


Fine Line

by LittleG98



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Best Friends, Bullying, Eventual Sex, F/F, F/M, Falling In Love, Friendship, Hate to Love, High School, M/M, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-21
Updated: 2020-11-15
Packaged: 2021-02-16 09:33:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 29,752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21505699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleG98/pseuds/LittleG98
Summary: Mike hates El. El hates Mike. Typical love story from hate to love only it's kind of not because things are a little upside down in Hawkins, and you usually end up going backwards before you can go forwards. El will learn the hard way that some boys are different and Mike will learn that not every pretty girl is like how they seem.Will be a bit of a slow burn with fluffy bits in between.I have done this story before but I wasn't happy so the old one is still up for anyone to read but I will be posting the new updated version under the same name.
Relationships: Dustin Henderson/Suzie, Eleven | Jane Hopper/Mike Wheeler, Jonathan Byers/Nancy Wheeler, Joyce Byers/Jim "Chief" Hopper, Maxine "Max" Mayfield/Lucas Sinclair, Will Byers/Original Male Character(s)
Comments: 56
Kudos: 60





	1. Wheeler First

High school.

How does one to begin to explain it?

Its meant to be the best years of your life but really it's just a place where people end up either being tormented relentlessly, in the middle ground and left unbothered or too popular with what seems like unnecessary power for a teenager. Unfortunately it seemed most kids at Hawkin's high ended up being teased and punished for simply being themselves, you had to be lucky to be left alone.

Those who were in the middle ground were at least cool enough to not be teased but not popular enough to hang with the cheerleaders and jocks. It simply meant you could say hi to whomever you please or smile at a cheerleader without fear of being pushed into a locker. 

That happened to be Jane Eleanor Hopper or more commonly known as El, she was slightly above middle ground and that was mainly due to the fact that she was prettier than the prettiest girls in the school and yet she seemed so nice. Always in soft colours and skirts that brought out her tanned skin and made her already bright brown eyes seem even brighter, or her curls that fell past her shoulder seem so much softer. It was really unfair, so kind, intelligent and happy, she didn't even have to try.

El would talk to anyone she please without fear of social annihilation. She spoke to nerd, jocks, drama people and cheerleaders in one day and each day they would all smile back to her and not act like her going to speak to another class of high school hierarchy wasn't strange because that was just El. And that was one of the many reasons that Mike hated her.

Mike Wheeler had tried all his life to not stand out, to avoid being at the bottom, and yet it seemed he was just destined to be the biggest nerd that walked through Hawkin's High. The moment he had walked into school at the tender age of 5 they had placed a large label on his head simply because of his dorky sweaters and then later on when he started bringing his Star Wars lunch box to school. It probably didn't help that his friends were a said 'group of nerds' but he wouldn't change them for a thing because they were the only ones who understood him.  
But then perfect little El had never had that problem, she came to school with a Wonder Woman top on and no one pushed her over or called her a nerd, no they just smiled as though she was wearing the trendiest of fashions. He boiled his blood because he didn't understand what she was doing, what he had done so wrong to cause this level of abuse that he got. It was unfair.

They all looked at her like she was some fucking goddess, the popular kids and the losers. They laughed at all her jokes, his friends were practically in love with her, the ones he had been friends with for a lot longer. Now Will he could understand, the two had been living under the same month for a few weeks and for two years before that practically spent their time between their parents house, so Will was excused from his budding friendship/family relationship because Mike couldn't expect anything less. 

Max was another person he understood, she had been a part of their group for what felt like eternity but had actually been less and now she had a girl to hang out with and Mike got it, she had hung out with boys since she moved here so to have someone like El while he got it. But then Dustin and Lucas (the wary one of the group) had all but accepted her the moment they saw her, at first Mike thought it was to do with the fact that they were so willing to accepted was because it would get them in Max's good books but then time went on. Max and Lucas got together and Mike thought for a spilt second that Dustin would be on his side but no, the curly haired fuck had to go and get himself in some sort of competition about who was El's best friend. 

Maybe the reason why he hated her so much was because the pretty girl preferred his friends and never sent so much as a second glance at him and when she did it was one of confusion. But in reality he hated her because she took away the only people who understood him and twisted them around her finger like the rest of the school, somewhere in the back of his mind he knew that they would pick her over him and it hurt.

... 

"I just don't get why she has to join us." Mike grumbled as he rode his bike down the dark street, the lampposts doing little to brighten the night sky. He gripped the bike with one hand as the other reached up to run through his hair, a usual sign of frustration and annoyance. The Byers/Hopper house could be seen at the end of the cul-de-sac, the one just around his own house, all big and imposing with a neat lawn and four bedrooms, something Will and his mother deserved more than anything despite the fact that it came with El Hopper. The sound of barking broke Mike out of his dark glare, most likely Chester stood on his back legs as he checks out of the window.

"Dude it's her house." Lucas used the tone he usually used when he was trying to calm down an angry Mike, that only happened though when El was brought up. See the thing was that Mike didn't understand what Lucas got out his friendship with El, Mike used to think that it was just because of Max but sometimes they hung out alone, made special time for each other. More than once Mike had hinted that something was going on but that only got his a hard kick on the shin from a feisty redhead and a lecture from El. Turns out it was because they had stuff in common, like music, movies and Max, the triple M they called it.

"Yeah and don't you think it's time to move on from this petty little grudge or whatever, she hasn't done anything to you." Mike sighed at the tone in Dustin's voice, full of anger and annoyance. The curly haired boy was so loyal to those who were loyal to him and Mike should have known better then to say anything in front of him just like El watched her tongue about what she said about Mike in front of him.

"Yeah whatever." Mike snapped back as they pulled up in front of the house, dropping his bike on the edge of the lawn and letting his lips twitch up a bit when Chester let out a large bark, his tail wagging like crazy despite someone shouting for him to calm down. "Don't you think it's kind of weird that Hopper is letting her stay here with four boys?" Mike asked as he turned back to his friends, not spotting Hopper's van on the drive. It wasn't like he wanted them to leave, he was actually excited to see Will's new house all done up but personally Hopper had never seemed like the type to let his daughter (Or Max who seemed to have taken the role of his adopted daughter) around four hormone riddled teenagers.

"Considering Will is practically my brother, Dustin is my other best friend and Lucas is the boyfriend of the girl my dad considers another daughter, the only boy he would be worried about is you." Dustin let out a scream at the sound of the voice as all three boys turned to see El as she finished her little speech, leaning against the fence as she did so. Mike narrowed his eyes and tried his best not to give her a once over because while he didn't like her, he was afterall still a boy and El was very attractive. Tonight though she seemed to be wanting to torment him with her curls piled on top of her head, a tight vest tucked into a pair of jeans that accentuated her behind quite nicely. 

"Do you always creep up on people?" The smirk that was on El's face fell off at Mike's question and instead she rolled her eyes and pursed her lips, making her way towards the door with a slight limp. Mike frowned as he looked down her leg, one side of her jeans was pulled upwards, showing a cut on her leg, it didn't look too bad but it was enough that it made him want to ask about it. "What happened to your leg?"

El stopped for a moment before turning to look at him over her shoulder, brown eyes dark in the dim light, a small crease between her eyebrows before she let out a small laugh and her full glossy lips turned back into a full smirk as she continued walking forward so her hand now rested on the door. "Careful Wheeler or I might actually think you care." Amusement rang though her tone as her teeth showed, making her look like some sort of predator for a second. Mike rolled his eyes, just because he didn't like her did not mean he wanted her hurt and he could tell that she was hiding something.

"Why are you all stood outside? Will, El's home!" Max shouted as she opened the door, dressed comfortable and looking right at home which Mike supposed he should have found weird but everyone knew that Max did not have the best home life and spent almost everyday she could crashing here. Joyce even did her laundry and packed an extra lunch, had even picked her up a couple of times from her house late at night. 

El rolled her eyes, gave Max a quick hug and made her way inside, cutting whatever tension had been between her and Mike as she left. Max raised an eyebrow and bit her lip as she looked like she was holding back some sort of laughter, when Mike frowned she looked away and made her way towards Lucas. He might have actually thrown up as the two teenagers began to suck face as though they hadn't seen each other in weeks instead of actually having seen each other two hours ago where they had run off to do whatever they did (Mike knew but he didn't want nor need to think about his best friends doing that), like everything else it just made him jealous, everyone had someone but himself. Except that wasn't true because Will was single and he looked content with it.

Mike huffed out a scoff as Max proceed to grope Lucas before making his way into the house, El stood at the bottom of the stairs, looking over some paper with a frown which immediately flew off her face as soon as Dustin entered the room and wrapped his arm around her shoulder with a grin. "So Ellie-bear what are we ordering for food tonight?" El raised an eyebrow but shook her head and leant into him, for most it would seem like they were something more than friends but Dustin had always been overly affectionate, so was his girlfriend Suzie, both of them gravitating to El like she was some sort of magnet.

Mike walked past them, being his usual self and ignoring El just as she ignored him, and instead walked into the living room off the right. It was cosy with its hard wood floor, giant cream rug and two comfy looking soft sofas with the TV in the corner. Someone had clearly being playing Atari and judging by the fact that Will wasn't there it was either El or Max, but Mike would put money on it that it was Max. He sighed and turned to just as El and Dustin walked into the living, feeling slightly entranced by the way El's eyes stared up at him with some unknown emotion, probably anger that he was inviting himself around her home.

Mike rolled his eyes and moved past her, his arm brushing against her warm skin and sending chills down his spine but he payed no mind as he began to walk up the stairs, dropping his bag at the bottom to annoy her just a tiny bit more (She hated mess), he looked at the photos that littered the walls much like his own house only the didn't seem as forced and the people in them looked happy to be together. A normal happy family without resentment, disappointed fathers or drunken mothers behind a facade.

He stopped as he caught sight of a photo, hidden amongst baby photos so that it didn't easily stand out. It was a photo of a very young El, though most people wouldn't know as he hair seemed a lot more blond and she was missing her front two teeth yet the eyes gave her away, so bright and big. There was a young woman behind her, same eyes and wide smile, her long arms wrapped around El and her dark blond hair tickling the girls face, for some reason his hand reached out to touch the photo of El and who he guessed was her mother. It almost felt as though he was looking into some private moment, a happy one with sadness on the edges, he wouldn't know as El never spoke about her mother.

"Hey." Mike pulled his hand away as fast as he could, turning to see Will walking down the stairs, hazel eyes looking sadly at the photo. Mike had the urge to ask Will if he had ever met the woman or where she was now but he felt as though that was too rude and in all honesty he had no right to ask.

"Is that Jane's mom?" So he asked a simple question, one that could maybe lead to Will spilling more, he also made sure to throw her given name in there because he had never called her El in all the four years that he had known, Jane just wound her up in a way that Mike couldn't explain. Will nodded and looked away, not giving up an information as to why El never brought up her mother, almost like the woman didn't exist in the slightest.

"Not that that is any of your business Wheeler, but yes that is my mother, that is twice though you've stuck your nose in where it doesn't belongs." Mike wanted to sigh so he did as he turned to see El stood at the bottom of the stairs, clearly her defences had been brought up as she looked at him like he was something on the bottom of her shoe. Mike had been taught not to pry but passing up an opportunity to enemy her was one that he was never going to miss.

"I'm curious, can't help it when I've never heard you so much as mention her name." Mike told her as he made his way down the stairs, stopping on the last one and staring down at her. She looked so tiny as she stood glaring up at him but he wouldn't put it past her to kick his ass if he did something like this again, with Max probably stood cheering her on from the sidelines.

"You know what curiosity did to the cat, right?" El asked with a sour tone, Mike narrowed his eyes and watched her walk back into the living room, her thinly veiled threat and leaving during what he would assume is mid-argument doing enough to aggravate him just like she wanted. El Hopper always had to have everything on her terms, it was incredibly frustrating.

... 

The group sat in a circle, having pushed the coffee table to the side of the room so they could sit on the floor instead of the comfy sofas. It had been Max's idea and she had told them to do it with a massive grin and twinkling blue eyes, rushing them to eat their pizza and not letting have the cans of coke that always seemed to be in the fridge at the Byers house.

"So did you bring it?" Lucas asked, practically bouncing in his place between Max and Dustin, he looked like a kid on Christmas day as he opened his presents only there was nothing to open and he had pizza sauce on his shirt from where Max had thrown a lump of cheese at him for saying something about some girl being hot, they had since calmed down.

"Do you not know me at all, Stalker, course I brought it." Max spoke with a scoff, some tension in her voice, clearly she was still slightly annoyed and Lucas knew enough to keep his mouth shut as Max stood up and left the room. Her feet pounded up the stairs before a door was pushed open, Mike assumed it was either El's room or the spare bedroom that housed all Jonathan's old things. And then she was back with a bottle of vodka and a shit-grin on her face.

"Wait, I thought we were just going to watch movies?" Mike spoke with panic as he looked around at his friends, none of them seemed fazed, like they had expected it. But he had only tried alcohol once at the ripe old age of fifteen and had gotten so drunk that he puked in his basement after stumbling in, and he'd only had maybe three cans of beer. Plus alcohol didn't seem that appealing when you watched your mum drink a whole bottle of wine a night so she could be happy. It just made him panic.

"Oh come on Wheeler, don't be a bitch." Max snapped as she pulled the top of the bottle, wiggled her eyebrows around and then took a deep gulp. No cough or choke came from her mouth, there was no sign that it burned like in the movies, no she simply wiped her mouth on the back of her hand and grinned before passing it to Lucas.

"What about your parents?" Mike turned to ask Will who had been his comrad in everything and normally didn't agree to doing such things that could get him in trouble, like the time El stole a cigarette off Hopper and Max one of Billy, they had smoke one puff and Will had pulled them out of their hands, stomped them on the ground all before they could take another. Dustin coughed as he passed the bottle to Will, the smaller boy taking a gulp and then holding it out to Mike.

"Mike, come on, they're out until tomorrow, can't we just be normal teenagers for once?" Mike bit his lip, ignoring the tanned hand that came to grab the bottle from Will's clutches as he thought. Will hadn't had much of a good start to being a teenager, five years ago he had witnessed his mother's then boyfriend Bob (A lovely man who helped the boys with A/V club and made far too many harmless dad jokes) be murdered in a robbery gone wrong. He had been found trembling in a closest the next day. He had bad days still though and teasing didn't help him in the slightest but he kept his chin held high, so if Will was asking for one night to be a normal teenager who got drunk with his friends then god dammit Mike was going to give him that.

"Fine, give that here Hopper." Mike snapped as he pulled the bottle out her hands, ignoring the lip gloss that was stuck there as he took a rather large gulp and instantly regretting it as it burned down his throat and into his stomach, leaving a trail of fire in its wake and coughing to follow. "Jesus, how can you drink this stuff?"

"Next time just try and take a sip, Wheeler." El told him lightly, teasing him as he turned to look at her, surprised when he saw she had a soft smile on her face instead of her usual annoyed smirk. He wanted to smile back for a second, any dislike leaving him with the gentleness of her face, something he rarely saw directed towards him.

"I'll remember that." Mike spoke back just as lightly, lips turning up at the corner and pale cheeks turning red as he spoke to El for the first time in years without any malice. Well, it had been known to happen now and again, normally over one of their group being tormented or when they rarely agreed on something but that came maybe once every year so Mike was surprised to find that he was actually enjoying it.

"Second one won't burn as much." And then she was smirking as she spoke, showing him that she knew more than he did on another subject and while Mike was no where near the smartest person but he knew he at the very least had that going for him. So naturally he hated when El, who already had beauty on her side, had one up on him in any subject or solved a problem before him. That clearly extended to her knowledge on alcohol, she had more experience and it infuriated him.

Mike sneered as he snatched back the bottle, El actually looked hurt for a second before her usual 'nothing bothers me' mask came back on and she looked away from him and back to her friends who were currently in the midst of having an argument (Lucas and Dustin that was because Max and Will were sat looking amused at the pair, cheeks all rosy pink from the alcohol in a way that made Mike wonder how many times they had managed to pass around the bottle while he was distracted by El.)

"You know what they say don't you my dear Lucas?" Mike turned to look at Dustin who had spoken in a posh voice, eyes glazed over and mouth in a wide smile as he looked between Mike and El while Lucas giggled, yes giggled, like some little girl and swayed in his spot. Honestly how much had they drunk? Mike only felt slightly warm but other than that he felt normal.

"What do they say my good friend?"

"That there is a fine line between love and hate." Mike fought the urge to roll his eyes as he began a mantra in his head that hitting drunk people was never good, and thats all his friends were, drunken fools who did not know when to shut their mouths. They had said it before that Mike's hate was clearly nothing more than an attraction to El and that he simply needed to pull his act together and ask her out, despite the fact he told them that wasn't the case many times before.

"I think you're right, and I also think its stupid that our young Mike and beautiful El keep on denying the sexual frustration that is flowing through the air between them." El coughed on the drink, hand coming up to cover her mouth as she glared at Lucas, who didn't seem to care. Dustin groaned and his head fell forward into his hands, he had already hinted and there was no need to actually say the name. Mike though was torn between throwing something at his friends and laughing at the was El was coughing, her eyes filled with tears and then she laughed, clutching her belly as though she thought this was one of the funniest things in the world. 

"Right, as much as I love that fact that you keep trying to set me up with Mike." Wait? What? Did he actually hear that right? His friends had been speaking to El about trying to get them together and he got the shitty version of 'hate to love' speech. His cheeks burned like a fire was underneath them and he was pretty sure his hands were shaking for everyone to see, as a distraction he grabbed the bottle and took two large gulps to get rid of nervousness and panic that flooded through his system. "As I have told you many times, I have a boyfriend."

"Wait? You have a boyfriend?" Now that was news to him, El had many friends who were guys but he had never seen her so much as laugh or simply talk to them. She never blushed or touched their arms or batted her eyelashes. So he sat with her everyday, listened to how she sometimes gossiped with Max and yet she never said anything about a boyfriend, despite the fact that he didn't like her it was strange that he didn't have a clue.

"Don't look so disgusted, Wheeler, some people actually find me to be a pleasant and attractive person." El snapped as she pulled the bottle from him with a glare, hurt around the edges. Mike frowned and looked her up and down, a smirk forming on his face, like he said he was a teenage boy and El was pretty beautiful.

"I'm not too sure about that pleasant part." The few gulps of alcohol had made him feel brave as he grinned at her, she frowned back and her lips pursed which made Mike's grin falter slightly, what had he said wrong now? He thought she might actually be happy to hear a half-decent compliment yet here she was looking as though he had just insulted her in the worst possible way.

"Wow Wheeler, way to be such a typical douche." El snapped as she stood up, slamming the bottle down to the middle of the floor and ignoring the looks their friends were sending them. Then without one last look she stormed out of the room and down the hall, Mike rolled his eyes but stumbled after her, feeling as though he need to explain himself to her even though he could definitely feel the alcohol hitting him harder.

Mike didn't call her as he stumbled after he, falling onto the wall more than once as he struggled to reach the back door. He really hadn't thought he had drunk that much but vodka was stronger than alcohol and they weren't mixing it with anything else, he could hear the voices of their friends as he made it to the door, pushing it open.

The fresh air did nothing to make him feel less drunk, in fact he felt drunker than before, but he could still admire how big the back garden was, Chester running around happily now that El and Mike seemed to have joined him in what was a chilly late summer night. El sat on the step that led from the porch to the garden, her jaw tense and her eyes focused on nothing, she didn't even speak as Mike moved to sit beside her.

"I didn't mean to be a douche, I'm really sorry." El sniffed slightly as she turned to face him him, her cute little button nose scrunched up and her curls falling out of her hair. Mike was stunned into silence, really he knew she was pretty, had since the moment he met her but he was stunned by just how beautiful she really was. All soft curves and delicate facial feature that kind of reminded him of some sort of fairy in Holly's story books.

"Just didn't expect that from you especially since you've never paid me much mind before." El told him softly, Mike had to look away from her. So she was upset because what he had said was kind of douchey and unexpected compliment to her appearance, ok he could deal with that, see this was why he normally kept his mouth shut apart from his usual snarky comments to her. Things always came out wrong when they were meant to be a compliment to her, his brain clearly didn't know how to give El a compliment so it belittled her slightly so it could feel better, it had to be that.

"Just because I don't like you El does not mean that I am blind." Shut up! Mike practically shouted at his brain as it did a complete u-turn in his head and clearly decided that he should tell her he that she was attractive. El blushed and ducked her head which was an unusual sight for someone who was pretty much overly confident all the time, Mike cringed and ran his fingers through his hair. "Shush though cause it's like a secret."

El seemed to snap back to reality as she remembered who it was that had just given her a half-assed compliment, her eyes narrowing as she shook her head and reached up to pull her scrunchie that kept her hair up. Mike watched as those brown waved tumbled down just past her shoulders, thinking about how soft they would feel between his fingers...not that he had thought about that before. Alcohol, you know, made you think the craziest things.

"Not much of a secret to find someone attractive, Wheeler, that's just human nature." El told him with a roll of her eyes as he chuckled. She had a point, being attracted to people was a normal thing and sometimes if you could tune out their voice or mute them in your head then it just made the whole process a lot easier, it's what Mike did to El when he found himself looking in her direction one too many times.

They sat out there for a while, soaking up the chill of the night and not speaking, occasionally Chester would run over with his ball in his mouth and El would scratch him behind the ear before throwing it back out softly. Mike could find himself doing this more often, a warmth inside him despite the chill and when El looked over and smiled softly he wanted nothing more than to smile back but then it was like every word or comment that came from El's mouth whenever they fought came back and he was filled with this annoyance.

"Well I'm off inside now, this was fun and all but lets not do this again." Mike told her as he stood up, El looked shocked, her pretty pink mouth falling open as she stared up at him, one hand out and resting on Chester's head. A sad little sigh came out of her mouth as she turned away and dropped the ball that had been in her other hand. "What?"

"Nothing, guess I was just wrong to assume we were actually getting along." El told him with a tight smile, Mike frowned and let out a bitter laugh. How the situation had turned around so quickly because of him and his ability to just let things go and enjoy the moment and then he opened his mouth and ruined the moment even more.

"One good moment doesn't make us friends, Hopper."

...

Hangover was a bitch even if you weren't properly awake but it was more of a bitch when you had a screaming Max because someone forgot to close the fucking curtains and now the sun was flooding in and hurting everyone's eyes. Mike wanted to cry as someone managed to stumbled and pulled the curtains close, a happy groan leaving his mouth as he turned to face the group, eyes peering open like everyone elses as they watched El storm from the room like she wasn't even hungover but just incredibly annoyed. Which in turn meant four pairs of puffy tired eyes turning to glare at him from wherever their heads rested.

"Sort it out, Wheeler." Max snapped lowly from where she laid sprawled out across one safe, Lucas tucked in beside her with no shirt on. Mike really didn't want to think about what they could have been doing, in fact he didn't really remember anything after the porch, he knew he drank more and that was it so he just hoped scarred memories didn't come up later. Never ask him how but he had already seen too much of Max and Lucas to last a lifetime and he wasn't begging for more (he accidentally walked in one them once in Lucas' bedroom, safe to say everyone felt uncomfortable afterwards.)

"Why me?" He whined, all high pitched with a pouting lip to match, everyone just rolled their eyes although Dustin was back to sleep with his hat still on. Impressive since he was a wriggly sleeper. His head throbbed and somewhere in the back of his mind he knew this was karma for him being a dick, he waited for Max to answer but she had fallen back asleep and he wasn't going to risk waking her up (Dustin still had a scar from one incident of trying.)

So instead he pulled himself off his makeshift bed which turned out to be a pillow from the sofa and someones jacket, sighing softly as he left the warmth and comfort he had managed to make and sluggishly made his way up the stairs. It felt like a lifetime before he was outside of El's room, hand ready to knock on the door (He only knew it was her room because of the movement inside and not because he had peeked inside on his way to the bathroom last night, confused by the sights of green and blue instead of the usual pink that Nancy and other girls seemed to have.)

See Mike had been raised to be polite and so that meant he knew he had to knock but also if he had to do one decent thing today, apologise for his horrid behaviour, then he was going to avoid that part and get it over with. So instead he gripped the door handle and pushed it open, speaking as he did so. "Hey Jane - woah, oh my god - shit - I am so sorry -" He regretted not doing what his mother had taught throughout his almost seventeen years of life because now he couldn't avoid the awkward situation he was in.

His hand still rested on the doorknob but his eyes were trying to look anywhere but the partially nude teenage girl who stood in front of him. Her eyes were wide as she tried to figure out what was happening and why someone had barged into her room without announcing themselves first. It was awkward and Mike was noticing out of the corner of his eye that the light blue of El's bra and panties was really nice against her skin tone. Him and his pervy thoughts should leave but it was like his feet were glued to the floor.

"Get out!" That was all he needed to move his feet and rush out the room, slamming the door shut behind him and letting his breath come out all heavy. First official girl he had seen in her underwear and it was the one girl who was mad and kind of hated him and here he was bright red with a wide smile as though he couldn't think of anything better. The smile left quickly, replaced by an image of her that wouldn't leave his head and now had him thinking that he really was a disgusting person to think of someone like that. Or just a teenage boy with hormones and a little crush. His brain needed to shut the fuck up before he gave himself a lobotomy.

His head felt dizzy from the mixture of hangover and pretty girl, his body begging him to sit down and relax for a moment. Mike slid down her door and let out a sigh as he shifted uncomfortably, he couldn't go to the bathroom, not here and he couldn't run to his own bathroom just to sort out his problem. He felt like a massive asshole, his mom did the same things to him and he hated it.

Just as he was feeling as thought he was calming down the door open and Mike's back ended up hitting her very soft carpet. El raised an eyebrow as she looked down at him, all pouty with pink cheeks and a summer dress on. Mike felt his eyes go wide as he realised how close he actually was to being able to see up that (not that he wanted to) and stood up quickly, looking like some new born deer as his legs wobbled beneath him.

"Listen I am so sorry, I was actually coming o here to apologise anyway for last night and - I'm sorry." El looked surprised as she raised an eyebrow and let him stumble over his words, arms folded across her chest which made her 'bosom' (he was turning into some sort of 1800's gentleman.) Taking a step back he smile, El frowned and shook her head, hand gripping the handle to her room.

"We will never speak of this again." Brown eyes burned into his, heating up his entire face as he sent her a grateful smile, a silent agreement between them that they were going to keep this to themselves and not even their friends would know. Though they would be suspicious as to why there hadn't been any screaming yet but Mike was just hoping that they would too busy sleeping to even care.

El rolled her eyes at his smile and moved to the stairs, giving Mike a proper look into her room. The walls were a soft green, her bed with it's blue covers was pushed towards the left corner with a few pictures above it and on the right was a white dresser with a large mirror above that and a small vanity beside it. But that wasn't what caught Mike's eyes, it was the white beside table with it's lamp and picture frames and in the midst of all of that was a gift that Mike had forgotten he had even given to her.

A rubik's cube (for Christmas because he wasn't so mean as to leave her out) that cost him $1,99 and was destroyed beyond repair. With colours missing, thanks to him feeling vindictive and twisted in a way that only he had known how to put back together despite the missing colours. That must have been two years ago so he couldn't remember how to put it back together now but it surprised him that she had hung onto it for these years and placed it beside where she slept as though it was important to her.

"Come on, Wheeler or I'm going to think you're raiding my panty draw." El spoke from behind him, he turned to face her slowly, confused and unsure as he looked down at her. There was the usual annoyed look to her face and nothing else, she had no reason to keep such a gift if she didn't like him and yet she had. "What?"

"I'm just surprised." Was all Mike said as he made his way past her, belly flipping in a way that he never thought would be associated with El. He was probably just feeling sick from the alcohol but then why did he feel as though he had accomplished something he hadn't necessarily set out to do. Like winning some prize for school that you forgot you had signed up for years ago, it felt good and nerve wracking and Mike wasn't sure which to pick from. "I didn't know you cared."


	2. Sweaters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi so it has been a long time and I am so sorry. Been a bit of a shit year for everyone I suppose and well I'm on lockdown for three more weeks so I've gotten back into writing this story. Hope you all like it and I'm sorry it took me so long, I won't let it be as long of as a break next time.
> 
> Anyway I don't own Stranger Things.

To clarify El did not hate Mike, not all. In fact when she first met him it had been the opposite because she had had a crush on Mike. A big crush at that. One that made her find his sweaters adorable with their little patterns on and itchy fabric, how his freckles looked like stars against his pale skin that always seemed to stand out against his dark floppy hair and eyes. It was like everything was a contrast with him, even down to the shadows that the hallows of his cheeks left under his cheekbones.

See the thing about El was that she had been home-schooled for the majority of her life and when her mom got sick and she moved in with her dad, suddenly she was thrust into this world that she had only ever seen on TV soaps before. It had been one of the scariest things on the planet, all these kids who had grown up together and then her, the weirdo from out of town. And Mike, well he was like the most beautiful person on the planet so how in hell was she even supposed to speak to him without feeling like she was going to choke on her own spit.

His friends, they had accepted her and her limited knowledge of High School with open arms, made her feel accepted and cared for. Max had been her main teacher, teaching her everything she needed to. Dustin had made her laugh when she felt down and Lucas was the one to call when she needed a double M (it was only triple M when Max was involved) night full of different movies and music that none of their friends liked, a bit too out of their comfort zone, or sometimes just to smoke together in piece and be real. And then there was Will, and Jonathan, the brothers she didn't even know she wanted until she had them.

Neither of them batted an eye when she was suddenly over for dinner, or staying the night because their parents were out on dates. It felt normal, seemed normal enough for them, as though they had always been three instead of two and one. They had their own trauma (their dad leaving, Joyce's boyfriends being killed) and they had still stuck by her with everything that happened with her mom.

But Mike, he had always been a different story, he didn't have enough time of day for her or even want to hear anything that came out of her mouth. Every time she spoke it was like he was rolling his eyes or scoffing as though she was uninteresting or boring, maybe both. It had hurt, bad at the time, though slowly it became normal until she barely noticed him anymore, until her crush died down. Though there was always still times she would find herself mesmerised by his eyes, freckles or even a simple smile that he sent to one of his friends. So she didn't hate him but she didn't like him. He was annoying and his presence was more of a nuisance than anything else.

Though she still liked his sweaters.

* * *

October seemed to come fast until it was nearing the end of the month, meaning it was cold and now El was seriously annoyed at herself for not bringing herself a jacket and being tricked by the sun into thinking it was going to be an alright down by simply wearing a thin long sleeved top with a cute skirt and some tights and trainers. Instead she was shivering, her teeth chattering together and her arms covered in goose flesh.

An envious glare was aimed at a group of girls who passed by her in the corridor, smart enough to dress for the weather unlike her, though it seemed karma was out for her as she leaned against the lockers, letting out a hissed and promptly jumping off them as fast as she could as the cold metal swept through her top and chilled her skin even further. 

A deep chuckle came from beside her, putting her even further on edge as she turned, ready as ever to give them a piece of her mind before deciding against it and instead to roll her eyes as she spotted Mike two lockers down placing his books inside his locker. He looked to still be chuckling at her discomfort, judging by the smirk on his face but at the very least he was keeping his mouth shut from any possible remark. Things had been tense for the last month, since their little incident and now they were actively avoiding each other out of fear that one of them would spill the secret that he had seen her in her underwear.

"Can you stop fucking laughing?" El snapped when Mike continued to chuckle, her tan hands reaching up to rub her temples at his annoying voice but yet she didn't make an urge to move. She could practically hear him rolling his eyes as he kept rummaging through his locker until the noise stopped and she was hit by something soft that kind of felt like how his sweaters would feel and opening her eyes that's exactly what he had thrown at her face.

"Hopefully that will help you keep down your racket." He told her. El grinned up at him as she threw her bag into his chest, taking a slight bit of pleasure as he grunted (though it also kind of made her want to blush) before she pulled the sweater over her head. It was far too big for her, almost comically large, with her slight frame but it was soft and strangely warm, it also kind of smelled like him which made her smile. Not that she was going to admit that unless she was about to be shot or ran over by a truck.

"Eager to get my clothes on, Hopper." Mike said with a raspy voice after two minutes of simply looking at her like she was strange, El blushed and grabbed her bags from his arms as he coughed and grinned down at her, raising an eyebrow also. It was a very attractive look that had her blushing deeper, for someone who didn't have much experience with girls, he sure knew how to make her blush lately, his new found confidence like a bright shining aura around her. It was slightly refreshing from the usual stumbling Mike, who still had amused her from no end when he stumble over his words after a pretty girl smiled at him.

"Yeah because I'm not eager to get them off for you." Mike blushed at her words but she kept going with an easy smile, as though she was tormenting a friend. "No, I'm just cold and you're the first person I've come across that keeps his nerdy sweaters in his locker, aren't you afraid that someone's going to steal them?" El teased, Mike rolled his eyes though his lips were twitching as he shut his locker, he sent her one last look before he was strolling away from her with a roll of his eyes. El smiled, she wasn't going to give up that easy, so instead she walked beside him.

"Don't you have someone else annoy?" Mike groaned as he asked, El shrugged her shoulders and tried to look up at him, though it was a struggle since she was quite small and he was like a giant. It hurt her neck to look up at him but it was worth it when she noticed that his hair was starting to curl at the edges, something he hated but she liked. It was very rare to see but it would be worth the neck pain she had later.

"No, everyone else is busy and I'm bored." El explained as she walked beside him, skipping slightly as his long legs were fast and it was hard to keep up. Her body was warming up now and she was surrounded by his scent, it was almost hugging her. He sent her a quick glare, shoulders going tense as he looked around but nobody was paying them any attention, it was as though they always got along.

"Lucky me." He mumbled under his breath, El frowned as she noticed the small smile on his face which he wiped off pretty quick as she reached out to poke his side. El was feeling kind today, so she wasn't going to annoy him, at least not today. He slapped her hand away, which in turn she pouted slightly though he only ignored her. Following him as he turned right and headed into the AV room. "Seriously, what are you doing?" Mike asked as she followed after him into the room once he had unlocked it, dumping her bag onto the floor and placing herself onto one of the tables while he began fiddling with some technological thing.

"I told you I'm bored and everyone else is busy, so I guess we are hanging out like the "friends-by-extension" we are." El explained, he sent her a look but she ignored him and instead focused on a piece of technology that was beside her, her eyes almost crossing as she brought it up to her face and began turning it in her hands. Long fingers wrapping around and pulled it out of her grasp, the strong smell of his strange and intriguing aftershave hitting her face in full face, ignoring her cry. 

"One, that is not what we are." His voice was stern and it kind of made her want to laugh if his words hadn't of hurt just the tiniest bit. It was right though, they weren't friends, still he could have played along a little, for the sake of their friends. "Two, don't you have a boyfriend to annoy?" Mike asked with a raised eyebrow, El let out a little laugh that sounded kind of cold as she shrugged her shoulders.

"No, dumped me after I wouldn't go further with him but not before fucking Stacey Albright." El told him, shifting uncomfortably as she admitted what had happened to her, Mike looked away and rubbed the back of his neck. Stacey was a Grade-A bitch, so it wouldn't be surprising that she would jump on El's boyfriend just to piss her off but it wasn't like El was heartbroken, not in the slightest, no instead she was waiting for Mike to say something that had her running out of the room and calling him a dick and then cursing him for two weeks.

"Well, erm, I'm sorry I guess, not even you deserve that." El looked up in surprise at the soft tone of his voice, his cheeks were red as he turned back to fiddling with his things on the desk. It was strange, first his sweater and then some kind of comfort. Maybe today was just one of her lucky days where they didn't argue and she didn't go back home feeling pent up with anger from yet another fight with Mike, only to fight later on when he was in her home or their friends made them be in the same room.

"Thanks, I guess." El told him, making it sarcastic to annoy him because she couldn't deal with too much niceness, it was just a bit weird. Maybe they could work up to it but for the moment his cheeks had calmed down and he threw a glare her way, though his shoulder relaxed and he seemed to be less uncomfortable after they exchanged insults or glares with each other and she had to admit it was the norm for them, far more easier than just comforting someone who you had spent four years fighting with.

"Dude you are not going to believe...oh hi El." The two turned to see Dustin walked in, his mouth opening wide as he did a double take when he realised who he had just greeted and who was on the table. He stuttered for a moment as though he wasn't sure what to say, his eyes going over the sweater she was wearing and then back to Mike, who was wearing his own goofy sweater. "What is happening and why are you wearing Mike's sweater?" He whispered, eyes even wider as though he was witnessing something supernatural, which it kind of was.

"Believe it or not Dusty, we are capable of being in the same room together without one of us screaming." El explained, a small smile on her face which fell as Dustin let out a loud laugh, leaning against the doorway as he began laughing, his hand clutching his stomach.

"Oh this is gold, I have to tell everyone, I have to tell Steve, he said this would happen..." And then he was gone, his footsteps echoing behind him and sprinted away. El looked to the door with her mouth open, noticing Mike sending her a look out of the corner of his eye, El shifted again before pushing herself off the table and reaching down to pick up her bag, keeping one hand on the back of her skirt. Just because he had had a little peak before did not mean she was going to be showing him again and judging by the way his face turned red as he made eye contact when she straightened herself up, he had been looking somewhere he shouldn't have.

"Well that's my cue to go." El told him tensely, tucking some of her hair behind her ear, he watched her do it, gulping slightly. Her small hand reached up to pat his shoulder which was higher than she thought as she had to stand on her tip-toes to do so before she began to make her way back towards the door.

"So you are going to leave me with all the questions?" Mike asked, annoyance creeping into his tone but it wasn't anywhere near as annoyed as he usually would have been, it was like there small amount of time alone seemed to have helped a bit. Like they were both trying to be civil without even having spoken about it, it was nice but it made her wonder how long it would last before they were at each others throats like a pair of wolves.

"Yes because I can not handle Steve and his claims of 'you two are meant to be' -"

"What?" Mike asked, his eyes wide and panicked as though she had just told him that people thought they were dating (it was a question that some people had asked) or that he might have failed one of exams, which she doubted was even possible for him, he always passed everything without even trying.

"And if he sees me in this sweater than he'll have a field day, so I'm gonna go and leave Dustin to explain why you are here and I'm not, good luck." El continued as though he hadn't spoken, a small smile on her face as she hugged the sweater tighter around her before she gave him one last wave and headed out the door, his eyes burning into the back of her head in a way that kind of made her tingle up and down her spine. The smile grew bigger as she walked towards the exit of the, thinking about how cute Mike was when he smiled instead of smirking, or when he spoke to her like she hadn't just stabbed someone in his family.

...

There were questions she had later from her dad, of course, about why she was wearing 'Wheeler's' shitty jumper when she had plenty of her own together, at that she had sent a glare to Will who kept his face looking down at his food, stabbing his veg instead of speaking, while Joyce chuckled between them. It was obviously him who had said something to their parents, especially when he sent Hopper a look once the man claimed he was going to need to get his shotgun out for whenever Mike came round again and started making moon-eyes at his daughter and lending her his clothes.

El had laughed out loud, claiming Mike hated her and she had made him give her a sweater, and she wasn't his biggest fan either so Hopper could calm down. Her dad had rolled his eyes, finished his food and stomped off to bed with claims that he was going to kill Wheeler is he ever tried anything and how his daughter was far too young to be in a relationship. Well at least Will had kept his mouth shut about her ex.

Her bed had never felt so good when she finally climbed into it after finishing her homework and having a long shower so that Will would run out of hot water as he took his, teach him to blab his big mouth (though she wasn't sure what he was blabbing about since nothing was going on between her and Mike). The sweater rested beside her head and she had decided that she was going to keep this one, it was nice and colourful and he had far too many anyway. He probably wouldn't even notice it was gone and if he did well then she didn't care. It was soft and it smelled amazing.

Her hand reached over before she could stop it to pick up the Rubik's cube off her bedside table, playing around with it in her hands, unaware that Will was walking past, preparing to tell her off for using the hot water but he stopped. A smile appeared on his face as he watched her, the half coloured and messed up cube and the sweater tucked under arm like a pillow.

Maybe drunk Dustin and Lucas had been right about El and Mike, or at least about El's part. He'd seen her sniffing the sweater from the moment she got home, the way she hadn't angrily spoke about Mike since she came home, only blowing off Hopper before he could go on a full rant but even then it had been mild with no annoyance in her voice, it was as though she found everything funny. And now she was laid in bed, holding onto both items from him, he wouldn't believe her ever again if she tried to deny that she didn't like him.

But he would keep that a secret for now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, please comment and leave kudos. It means a lot.  
> :D


	3. Fight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back again!! So here's the next chapter, thank you to everyone who has been commenting, you are all amazing and each and every one of you is helping me get through this difficult time. You make being in lockdown a little easier and I hope my stories are doing the same for everyone else.
> 
> These are shit times, and I just want everyone to be safe and do their part. It's hard staying inside, trust me I've been at it for nearly two weeks and after that I've still got two weeks more.  
> Obviously I'm hoping that after this everything will be good but if people keep ignore the rules then it won't be.
> 
> So lets do our part by staying inside, only leaving for food or emergencies.  
> Who knows, us staying inside could be the reason that someone lives just like us leaving and ignoring the rules in place could be the reason that someone gets the virus.
> 
> Lets just try and stay happy and positive.
> 
> Anyway I hope you enjoy this chapter.
> 
> I don't own Stranger Things.

Yesterday was one of the most confusing days Mike had ever experienced. It had played in his head on a loop like a broken record while he had tried to sleep, even while he slept. Though today he hadn't been focus on it too much, just the test in one of his many advanced classes and then after that it was back and circling around his brain. It was strange to have a civil conversation with someone who for the most part spent their time around you being, well a bitch for lack of better word, but then he was the one who had started the civil conversation.

If she hadn't have been shivering then he wouldn't have given her the sweater, just so the teeth chattering could stop ringing in his ears and not at all because he didn't like it, didn't want her to be as warm and cosy, especially when she lent against the cold locker. The noise she had made was pretty funny though. But then she was in his sweater and it did something to him, he had never had a girlfriend who wanted to where his clothes (never really had a girlfriend at all), he liked it. She looked so tiny and happy that he had spoken before he could stop his brain, 'Eager to get my clothes on, Hopper.' What a stupid thing to say but then as usual she had come back with a witty retort that had him blushing.

Shaking his head, he closed his locker and began his journey to home, only to stop when something caught his arm. El, looking very pretty with a tight sweater (he had kind of hoped she would wear his again) tucked into a pair of high-waisted baggy jeans that stopped above her tanned ankles, and her soft curls were falling out of the high bun and scrunchie she wore. But it wasn't what she was wearing that caught his eye, it was the asshole ex-boyfriend that she was speaking with who seemed to not understand that her moving backwards meant she was trying to get away.

"Mike." Her voice was full of hope as she looked at him with a wide grin, something that she had never given him before. His body shivered despite the fact that he was quite warm, her soft and warm voice doing things to him that he never wanted to think about again. El's big brown eyes were staring at him, giving him a clear 'help me' me message that he was tempted to ignore, he could easily carry on with his day, but after what she said yesterday he didn't really want to leave her alone with the douche.

"Hi, you ready to go?" Mike asked as he reached out to gentle grip her wrist and pull her away from the jock who was glaring between them, El let out a sigh of relief, a small smile on her face as she allowed him to pull her away.

Now Mike had never prided himself on someone who was good with reflexes, Dustin punched him lightly in the arm the other day and he tripped over nothing, but for some reason he saw it coming. The way the ex reached out for El, Mike pulled her other hand into his fast, standing as strong as he could when the large meaty hands of the ex came to push him away, Mike stumbled backwards. He was shocked personally because the person who El had been dating was the person responsible for making Mike and his friends lives hell since they were kids. Fucking Troy, biggest dickhead in the school.

"Since when did you talk to, Frog Face?" Troy asked, as he turned to glare at El who stood beside Mike with a furious look on her face. El took a step forward, glaring up at the taller boy as though she was daring him to fight her.

"Don't talk about him like that." Her voice was harsh and her hands were on her hips, it caused Mike's eyebrows to raise. So yesterday they had actually had a civil conversation and now here she was standing up for him. Was he in an alternate universe? Because there was noway that El Hopper, prettiest girl in their school, was sticking up for Mike 'Frogface' Wheeler the boy who was paler than an albino had loved smile, oh and who had been an ass to her for four years.

"Why not? That's all he is Jane." Troy hissed in Mike's direction, Mike rolled his eyes. Honestly it barely bothered him anymore after years of hearing it but it seemed to bother El as she flinched and took another step closer to Troy. Mike felt uncomfortable and fascinated, he hated how Troy seemed to tower over the girl (he didn't think Troy would hurt her, he wouldn't let him, but he didn't like it, he felt worried about her). Yet little El Hopper didn't seemed phased in the slightest, not even batting an eye. "I want you to stay away from."

"I suppose it's a good thing that you can't tell me what to do then, now get out of my way." El spoke calmly as she tried to move away from the boy only to roll her eyes when he didn't budge. "I said move."

Everything seemed to happen so fast, El placing her hands on Troy's shoulders as Mike moved forward to stop her. Troy seemed distracted enough as she brought her face towards his, well he was distracted enough to not noticed the knee that came up hard and hit his junk until he was being pushed on the floor, eyes closed and a cry leaving his mouth. Mike stood with his mouth open as he looked down at the bully, El's warm hand sneaking into his own, her fingers wrapping themselves into his, and then he was being pulled.

Mike struggled to not trip over as he was pulled through the corridors and out the front door where a few students were lingering around, most likely waiting for their parents or smoking. His head snapped back to El as she slowed down, a small laugh escaping her lips as she skipped down the stairs, her hand still clasped tight in his own. Mike followed, not knowing what to say as she pulled him towards his bike, stopping to turn and face him with a grin.

"I don't need you to defend me, you know." So clearly he had something he needed to say as he ripped his hand away from hers, pulling his bike out and getting on it as fast as he could, El copying him with a hurt expression, a small frustrated cry coming out of her mouth as he began to ride away from her.

"Maybe you could just say thank you instead of acting all hurt because your pride got hurt getting defended by a woman." El snapped as she appeared next to him, he frowned as she hit the nail right on the head. He wasn't sexiest but he didn't need her to defend him, not when she hadn't bothered in the four years that they had known each other, well at least she hadn't with him. One good day does not mean that she got to do it now.

"Say thank you for what?" He asked back, she glared at him as she served out of the way of a pothole. "Cause all you've done is given more reason to Troy to hit us now." He told her, she frowned before rolling her eyes, they were nearing her house now, he could see it at the end of the road which meant he wasn't far from his own and he could forget any of this ever happened. He should have known El wasn't finished as she skidded in front of him and caused him to break so he didn't fall face first into someone's very prickly thorn bush.

"You're an absolute dick, Mike Wheeler, do you know that?" Why did she sound as though this was a new revelation to her and not like she didn't call him it everyday. Mike sighed as she threw her bike to the ground and moved forward to grip his handlebars before he could ride around her and go home where she wouldn't follow."You know I can't I actually thought we were getting somewhere."

"Yeah, well you thought wrong." Mike told her harshly, she blinked why for a second, wide eyes focusing on his before she let out a laugh and let go of her bike, her fingers running threw her hair and pulling it out of it's bun as she moved back to her own bike. He watched her, not moving and feeling strangely guilty and also a little scared (she had just kneed Troy in the balls).

"Yeah I did, I don't why I thought for a second we were actually friends." El whispered as she sat on her bike, the guilt twisted his stomach as his brain fought to find something nice to say, but it seemed his pride was still angry for her defending him.

"See that's what I don't understand, why for one second would you think I could be friends with you when all you've done is spend the past four years throwing insults at my face and acting all innocent, you are no better than Troy or the rest of them." Mike snapped, El frowned and blinked her eyes a few times as though she was trying to fight off tears, the wounded part of him that had let a girl defend him against his bully was still asking to be fed, to deliver the final blow. "Is that what happened with your mum, did you annoy her enough that she left you?"

El was silent as her jaw dropped open like she was ready to give him a fight and then it closed, she stared at him for two more seconds before she pushed her feet onto her peddles and sped away, wind ruffling his hair as she went the opposite way to her house. He stared after her, slightly worried about where she was going and feeling the guilt eating him up. He was a cruel boy who should have just been thankful, he didn't know what had happened with her mom and clearly it was something personal if she had given up the fight and left him alone.

It didn't matter. It would all blow over soon enough and they would be back to fighting each other and throwing insults. Everything would be right.

* * *

The next day seemed quiet, it felt safe from whatever wrath he was going to get from El if she hadn't calmed down. Though non of his friends brought anything up, it was like they hadn't sensed anything was any different. It was only as he realised she wasn't in their shared English class that something seemed off, even as he headed to lunch he kept his eyes open, waiting for her to pop out of a corridor, speaking to one of her more popular friends but she wasn't there. She didn't even seem to be at school. Not even two days later.

"Wheres El?" Mike cracked asked on the third day of not seeing her. Maybe she had an illness but that seemed unlikely, it had been three long days where his friends hadn't thought to bring it up and with how much time they spent together it was normally that if one was ill then they would all get ill. He kind of missed her, no one could argue like her and no one seemed to want to argue as they ate their lunch. Four pairs of eyes watching him in confusion as he realised he had let his worry slip into his voice.

"Oh...yeah she's staying with her Aunt Becky, said she needed to." Will told him carefully as he took another bite of his sandwich, sending a glare to Max who had let out a scoff and stabbed her lunch with a plastic knife, eyes looking anywhere but the table. Mike gulped, he had a vague feeling that El had told Max what he had said and now Max was going to maim him or skin him alive after school on El's behalf.

When lunch was over and the redhead was still playing with her knife and shooting glares his way, he decided it would be better if he ran to his next class only Max knew better, grabbing him by the back of his top and into the girls bathroom, just as Troy rounded the corner, as though this was a normal occurrence. Lucky it was empty. He had a choice to make, leave and be killed by Troy or allow Max to do the honours, maybe she would be gentle as she was his friend too.

"Listen Wheeler, I know what happened and it's safe to say that if you ever mess up like that again that no one will ever find your body." Max hissed as she stepped closer, blue eyes staring into his soul. He gulped and nodded, he didn't doubt her for a second, especially since she would probably get Hopper on her side and then she could walk away free with murder.

"Yeah I know, I want to apologise." Mike admitted, for the past two days he had known that he went too far. They had never brought parents into their fights, in fact El wouldn't since she knew Nancy quite well, even spoke to her on the phone. And he had crossed that line, he owed her now. He needed to say sorry for his stupid mistake, so what she had defended him? It wasn't like she had done it to piss him off, it was because she had the balls to do it and he didn't.

"Yeah well good luck with that, she's not as forgiving as some people." Max told him with one last glare as she stormed out of the bathroom, Mike following behind her. He watched as she walked to Lucas, the boy sending him a look that said 'fix this' as he linked hands with his girlfriend and made their way to the next class.

Mike let out a sigh, even Lucas thought he was a dick, he moved forward towards his own locker, head slamming against the metal. He was the biggest idiot on the planet.

* * *

Max was right. Of course she would be right about her best friend.

El had come back to school on Thursday with a smile on her face and an incredibly cute outfit, but never once did she look at Mike. He had tried many times to get her attention, a motion with his hand that said they needed to talk, he had even tried to call her house the night before when Will told him that she was coming home but as soon as she heard his voice, she hung up. And now she wasn't even fighting with him, it was like he wasn't there, she was ignoring him and while his friends seemed to appreciate the lack of fighting, he didn't. He hated being ignored.

"So are we going to arcade today?" Will asked on Friday as they sat down at the table, just the boys as the girls had decided to somewhere else. Probably because yesterday Mike had tried as hard as he could to involve El into the conversation, only she smiled and continued speaking to Max before they had decided to leave. And now they weren't even joining them.

"I'm down, I know Max is to." Lucas told the boys, Dustin nodded with a mouth full of food as they began discussing what games they were going to go on today. The arcade was normally dead, with a few other nerdy people in there but normally they could play what games they want to. Mike stabbed at his lunch, grinning as an idea popped into his head and he looked at Will who looked a bit scared about why his best friend was staring at him with a crazy grin.

"Does that mean El is coming to?" The boys looked to him while Dustin rolled his eyes and swallowed his food before speaking.

"Yeah, but maybe you could just leave her alone, I don't want anymore fighting, hell I'm tired of this ignoring." Dustin told him sharply, Mike frowned. He would have thought that his friends would have preferred it, but maybe they just wanted them to be normal and not fighting. It had to be tiring being their friends sometimes, especially on a bad or in El's case a bad like five days.

"I'm not the one doing the ignoring." 

"No but you are the one who can't seem to stop bringing her into the conversations or annoying her for a response, whatever has happened just let things run their course, maybe she's tired of the fighting." Dustin spoke in one of his rare moments of wisdom, Will looked on proudly while Lucas rolled his eyes. He'd been awkward with Mike which meant that Max had told him everything she knew, and Lucas was a loyal boyfriend which meant he would agree with whatever Max said unless it was too bad. He also knew how Mike could be, so no doubt he believed what he had been told.

* * *

The arcade was dead, only a couple in there playing a game and giggling, as well as the guy that ran it, his fingers covered in cheeto dust as per usual. Mike personally didn't like him as all he tried to talk him about was Nancy who hadn't lived in Hawkins for one year (he had just entered his junior year), his crush still as strong as it had been when Mike was thirteen and he kept trying to blackmail Mike into trying to get himself a date. Which was why Mike tried to hide from him.

Anyway he was drifting off topic, he was here to try and apologise to El and hopefully get things back to the way they had been before, so he could get out of this weird situation that lingered over him. He just wanted everything to be normal again but she hadn't even looked at him, not even insulted his dorky sweater. No she just played Dig Dug and continued to ignore him.

"Go left." He whispered in her ear, El jumped, her back stiffening as she turned to look at him over her shoulder. Her strawberry smelling hair hitting him in the face in the process. It smelled quite nice and very El, almost making him smile until she let out a groan, her character dying on the screen. He grimaced, maybe speaking to her while she was on a roll was not the best idea to make them become what ever they were again, it probably just made her more annoyed at him.

"Will, I just died, do you have a quarter, unfortunately that was my last one." El sent him a glare as she spoke, looking to her step-brother who seemed to be looking between them both with an amused smile. Mike winced, he felt guilty but really how had she spent all her quarters in one hour, was she really that shit at game? He already knew the answers because he had teased her on it so many time, and the answer was yes, her patience was always so thin when she came to playing any sort of game.

"I have one." Mike whispered, digging into his pocket and pulling out his money as Will let out a little laugh before moving over to where Dustin was playing, everyone was avoiding Max and Lucas who seemed to be screaming at each other as the played Pac-Man. Mike held out his hand to her, watching her face as she looked down at the money.

For a spilt second he thought that maybe she would take the money and continue playing, maybe let him help her wind but she simply sent a glare and moved over towards Will and Dustin. His hand seemed to reach out at it's own accord as he wrapped his long fingers around her wrist and pull her until she was facing him again. Her face showed how unhappy she was but at the very least she didn't slap him or pull her hand away from him.

"El please." She frowned and he realised his mistake, he had never called her that out loud, it was always Hopper or Jane (when he was in a bad mood), but never El, that was reserved for close friends and family and he was neither. "I'm sorry, I really am, sometimes I have this problem where I don't think before I speak." He tried to explain, he wanted to hear her talk but she nodded her head and turned back around. His hand was still around her wrist so he used it to move in front if her as fast as he could, making his eyes bigger as he looked down at her. He didn't get why he was so fixed on trying to make things better when this was all he ever wanted.

"Come on, this silence thing isn't fun, where's the girl who once spent an hour arguing with me about Donkey Kong?" He asked her, trying to remind her of one of his favourite arguments that they had had. One that had caused him to go home with a smile, but now it just made her roll her eyes and pull her hand out of his wrist.

"Is that what you want?" It was a simple question, one that had relief and panic flooding through his veins. It was what he wanted for the past few days, an excuse to fight with her or maybe just to talk to her. But he didn't know what that meant. Her eyebrow raised as she waited for him to answer, his tongue running over his teeth as he thought over what he could say.

"Well yeah, don't you want that?" 

"No, Michael I actually don't want every conversation we have to be a fight, I personally don't know about you but for me it gets tiring after a while." El told him, any smile that had fell off his face. He understood why she hated being called Jane because he personally hated being called Michael, his mother only called him it when he was in big trouble. He didn't want her to not fight with him, how would they communicate otherwise? It was a bit too late for them to just be friends after everything that had been said.

"If this about what I said the other day then I really am sorry." Mike mumbled lowly, noticing how their friends seemed to have stopped their games and were watching, waiting for how the two were going to act.

"Listen, what you said hurt and I won't deny that but it gave me a chance to think, you're right I am no better than the bullies and if I'm honest I don't want to spend the next two years of high school fighting with you about stupid meaningless things." She told him with a tired smile before she sucked in a deep breath. "And you were right about us not being friends, I was stupid to think one good day meant that we were finally growing up and putting everything aside. We are just too different and that's fine, we'll share our friends like we always have and we'll be civil but I'm not wasting what's left of high school jumping down your throat about everything because I really don't care anymore, it's not important." 

Mike's stomach dropped as she moved away, he itched to grab her wrist again before reminding himself that this was what he had wanted. He didn't want to be her friend, but then why did he feel as though someone important had just walked out of his life. He tried to tell himself that it was simply because she had been there for four years, fighting him and challenging him on every little thing and now she had just given it up. Somewhere in the back of his mind there was a part of him telling him not to be so stupid, that he knew why it hurt, knew why he fought so much for her attention, why he felt guilty every time one of their fights ended badly. That he shouldn't be so stupid.

* * *

His mood had fouled over the weekend as he ignored his friends invites to hang out or do anything with them and instead stayed in his room, only leaving to eat with his family and shower. Then it only got worse when he opened his curtains on Monday to find that it was raining and his mother wouldn't be able to take him to school which meant he had to ride there.

He was soaking by the time he reached school, his hair curling on his forehead, and his knees now dirty from where he had tripped up trying to get off his bike. His feet stomped against the tile of the school as he moved to his locker, staring in shock to find his sweater inside (he wasn't even sure how she had managed to open his locker) clean with a faint linger of El's perfume on there.

Mike didn't want it back, he had given it to her out of the kindness of his heart, and now despite all her words to him in the arcade about not looking for a fight, here she was trying to create one in such a public place because did she really think that he was going to let this roll over. That he would take it back without so much of a bit of anger because he wouldn't.

Anger made it's way up his throat as he slammed his locker shut and stormed through the hallways, eyes peeled wide as he looked for her before finding her places her books in her locker. Baggy pants held up by braces and a matching blue top, with a denim jacket over the top, tucked in, even her scrunchie in her half up-half down hair matched. It was like she was the colour blue, which was ironic because his sweater that he was wearing was also blue. Maybe their clothes matched how they felt.

"What's this?" Her eyes turned to face him as he asked, looking over the curly hair with a slight smile. He glared and threw the jumper into her hands lightly. Her eyes rolled as she threw it back into his own hands, ignoring the confused and hurt look on his face.

"Its your sweater, I thought you might want it back." El explained slowly as she placed a couple of books in her bag, shutting her locker slowly and making sure the bag was firmly on her shoulder. He followed her as she began to walk to her first lesson, noticing the way her jacket was damp and she was shivering slightly. Did this girl really not have any warmer clothes? Or did she enjoy the feeling of having a cold heart so much that she wanted her body to feel the same way.

"Yeah well I don't, maybe you should use it." Mike told her as he shoved it into her chest, her hands reached out to push him away as a small smile made it's way onto her lips and she shook her head.

"I thought we agreed that we were over this." El reminded him with a soft sigh, he frowned, how was it possible that she knew exactly what he was trying to do without him even saying it. Probably because they had fallen into this easy pattern a million times and now here she was trying to get out of it while he still continued to fight, only it ended up being more one sided than he wanted.

"Over what?" 

"Fighting, honestly I think its better for both of us if we just stop it." El answered as she stopped outside her classroom and have him a look. He tried once again to hand her the sweater as she shivered, her fingers lingering on the fabric as though she wanted nothing more than to put it on before she pushed it gently back towards his chest, her fingers dancing over his shirt and her pink tongue coming out to wet those full lips in a completely distracting way.

"No you decided that, I didn't, now just take the damn sweater." He told her sternly, taking a step forward and ignoring all the looks they were getting. People probably thought they were together or something, in the middle of a fight, he couldn't think of that now, nor the way it twisted in his stomach and made him feel unwell. El took a step back, her hands coming to rest on the strap of her bag.

"Mike, are you honestly trying to fight with me about a sweater that I don't even want?" She asked him, his arm dropped and he sighed. He thought it would be easy to coax her into a fight, honestly what was wrong with him that he was here trying to fight with her when she'd made it clear that she wasn't going to do that anymore? But that feeling was back, the one where if he didn't do this then maybe he wouldn't be able to speak to her again. "Thought so, right I have to get to class so bye."

He stared after her before glaring at some smirking freshman and shoving the sweater in his bag. He needed help. He felt all tense and angry because she wouldn't scream at him and not at all because he just wanted her attention. No that wasn't it at all.

* * *

"A party?" Mike asked Will at lunch who nodded his head as he bit into his sandwich that Mrs Byers had made for him with a small grin that was so unlike Will. Dustin was practically giddy with excitement, even El looked happy at the idea, leaving him the only one who wasn't thrilled by the idea (Max and Lucas were too busy deciding who's house out of the group they could sneak into after for some alone time).

"Yeah, I know I was surprised that we were even invited but it's for Halloween and when can we ever say we've been to a party?" Will asked the group, Dustin nodded his head while El tried to keep him from bouncing out of his seat.

"Speak for yourself." She told Will who rolled his eyes before continuing speaking.

"Fine, when can we say we've been invited, apart from Max and El, to a party?" He asked. Mike frowned, El was constantly invited to parties and doing normal teenager stuff, which meant Max always tagged along for the ride while the boys were left behind playing D&D, Atari or watching Star Wars in Mike's basement. And he personally was fine with doing that again for Halloween, no point in changing tradition when it was so good. "Plus its five against one so you are going."

Mike banged his head against the table, he was sure most teenagers were excited about going to some high school party and getting drunk but he had never being one of those teenagers. He like warm sweaters and staying up late to read comics and being a nerd. He did not like the idea of dressing up ( the ghost buster incident was still fresh in his mind) and being around a bunch of drunk or high, horny teenagers who let themselves be far too loose and doing stuff they regretted. Or even those who dressed up as something far too inappropriate for their age groups. He sounded like an old man.

"So I say we go shopping for costumes, I'm thinking slightly slutty, what do you say El?" Max asked innocently though her blue eyes were twinkling with mischief as she sent a look to Mike. Mike hid his face in between his hands and tried to hide the groan that came along. The image of El as a kind of slutty Princess Leia appearing in his mind before it changed to El in her underwear appearing in his mind like Max had placed it there herself. It wasn't fair, they weren't friends but did she have to be so good looking, if she was ugly then everything would be easier. Though they did say that anger and lust went hand in hand, maybe that's all he was experiencing as his hormones came to life.

"Sure, I can do a little slutty." El's voice was raspy as he turned his head slightly to see her stroke Max's arm, his cheeks burned hotter than the sun as he looked back down and tried to get himself under control. How could one word have caused him to be this uncomfortable? You know, if he had the nerve to get unchanged in front of her (though he wasn't sure it would have the same effects) and make her life a bit harder then he would. But he wasn't going to.

"That's hot." Dustin spoke, Mike looked up to see Dustin and Lucas practically drooling over the girls as they pretended to flirt while Will looked slightly disgusted, it was kind of his sister that they were drooling over. Mike glared at his curly haired friend, delivering a swift kick to his leg, one that cause the table to jolt slightly and the people sitting there to turn and look at him in shock.

"Stop objectifying them." He hissed, the only excuse he could think of but in all honesty if that was the reason then he would have kicked himself five times by now. He just didn't like the way Dustin was staring at their friends, didn't he have a girlfriend? Why did he sound jealous? He wasn't just to be clear because Dustin and El would never happen so there was no reason to be jealous. Wait, no he didn't like El, she could be with whoever she wanted. He was just protecting Susie, that was all.

He wasn't jealous.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed that chapter, I'm already working on the next one.
> 
> Thank you to everyone.
> 
> Please comment and leave kudos because it helps keep my spirits up.
> 
> Stay safe everyone please.


	4. Halloween

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello I am back.   
> First I just wanted to say thank you all for your amazing comments, you are really helping me through these shitty times and I hope I am helping you all too by distracting you from probably what you are all thinking about.
> 
> I know things are tough and some of you are going to be more effected than others but we are all strong and we can all get through this.  
> Our community can be there for one another.
> 
> So I hope this chapter helps and I hope you all like it.
> 
> I don't own Stranger Things.

**Saturday the 31st of October 1987**

"Happy Halloween!"

Mike blinked, he had expected it to be more trick or treaters, he even had the bowl of candy ready in his hand. Slapping Dustin's hand away from the bowl he stared in shock at the little group outside his house, their costumes were amazing. He hadn't expected them to go all out really, just that they would do a half-assed job or not even bother at all like they always did.

Will had dressed as Marty McFly, which was simple but it made sense since Will seemed to own all the clothes that Marty did. Plus it had been a popular movie, still was so there was no chance that no one wouldn't know who he was. Dustin had dressed as his other half (Doc not Jennifer, though that would have been funny), his curls were peaking out from under his white wig and Mike was pretty sure that Dustin had taken the lab coat from school, but they looked good.

"Lucas where did you even find a purple coat?" Mike asked shocked as he turned to look at Lucas. His friend was clearly dressed as Prince (who Max absolutely adored) in his iconic Purple Rain outfit even down to the boots. Though his moustache was a bit too thin and it had taken Lucas two weeks to grow and a lot of comments from his friend, and he was missing the hair, which he claimed was because the wing itched and not because something had happened to it when he tried it on for Max. Mike had cut he off before he could even tell the story, like he had said before he knew far too much about his friends sex lives to hear anymore.

"El found it for me in one of her thrift stores." Lucas explained warily. Mike nodded his head as his throat tightened. He hadn't really spoke to El since the arcade, a quick hi every now and then and that was it. It was like they had their own bubbles that their friends could cross but they couldn't, so he kept quiet and followed her wishes of not fighting which hadn't been easy.

"Speaking of the girls, where are they?" Mike asked as he looked over the boys shoulders and not spotting Max's bright red hair or El's bright smile. The boys shrugged their shoulders slightly as if they didn't know. He sighed and moved back into the house to grab his jacket and his keys.

He didn't want to do this, didn't want to go to a party or even dress up but he knew his friends would moan and leave him here and then have fun at a party while he would be at home by himself until nine when his mother and sister would come home. Which is why he was making an effort for them. Not too much of an effort because he was still Mike and after the Halloween 'Ghostbuster' Incident well he didn't want to risk being laughed at again.

Which is why his outfit consisted of three key features, a hockey mask, a green jacket and a black hoodie. He wasn't putting the mask on, he let it rest around his neck and hopefully he could leave the mask in Lucas' car (the oldest of the group and the only one parents seemed to trust to drive round a group of teenagers to a party on a Saturday night). He kind of wished his mother would appear and ban him from going out instead of trying to push him out of the door when he had told her, a big smile on her face as though this was the greatest news she had ever heard. Her loser son was going to a party.

"Wow Wheeler, thanks for not trying too hard." It was like his brain froze as he turned to see Max and El walking across his lawn, the other boys staring too. Mike's mouth fell open as he let out some weird cross between a moan and a cough, ignoring the amused look Will sent him.

Max was wearing Madonna's 'Desperately Seeking Susan' outfit, her hair perfectly curled and held up with a back bow, her pants high and tight against her waist and she even had on a see through lace top (though it was less see through on her chest area), the only difference being that her jacket was black and leather unlike the green fabric one Madonna had worn. She even had the white gloves on.

But it wasn't Max who had made his jaw dropped (one because she was Lucas' girl and two because well she was pretty she had never been his type), it was El. Sure she loved her short skirts and tight tops but he didn't think she had ever shown this much before. She wore a white sort of corset top that barely covered her breasts and pushed them upwards, the rest see through much like Max's, her skirt was flowing fabric that stopped above her knees at the front and her calves at the back, showing off her long tan legs and the tall white heels she wore. He wondered briefly if she was cold, considering the only thing that covered her arms was a pair of lace gloves and some bracelets and then he just stopped thinking as she smiled at him was those red painted lips. 

He knew as they head to the car that he wasn't going to be the only one who couldn't think around her. It wasn't fair that she had to look so beautiful and enticing, but judging by the way she was smirking at his shocked silence, she knew exactly what she was doing.

* * *

Mike could barely breath in the back of the car, Max had called shotgun, which meant he was pressed between the window and El, who's breasts seemed to strain against her corset with every breath which meant he was left trying to stare out of the window, only to get a reflection of the whole thing. He felt like a pervert, sure he knew guys and girls checked each other out all the time, but he had never done it to the point where he couldn't control himself.

See the thing was he had never found Madonna hot, not even when she had dressed up the same as El for 'Like a Virgin', her bleached blond hair and bright red lips had done nothing for him. Sure he was like everyone else where he liked a couple of her songs, but now he was strangely thankful to the woman for releasing music that had the most beautiful girl in his life dress up how she was. Especially as she pressed herself a bit further into him as the car turned onto another street, her long leg practically resting on his and her hand on his arm.

He let out a tiny whimper as she straightened herself up, thankfully no one noticed because that would have been far too embarrassing to explain. 'Yes guys I'm moaning because El looks hot and she has turned me on', yeah he didn't think they would let him out of that one. What was wrong with him? Not a week ago his goal with this girl was to fight and now he was barely keeping himself together because of an outfit. An imagine of Hopper shooting him for staring at his daughter jumped into his brain and caused his eyes to widen. Because that's what was going to happen, Will was going to tell Hopper that Mike had been staring at his daughter's chest the whole car ride to the party and then he would be dead. The chief would kill him and leaving his body in the woods. 

"Ellie and my dear Mad Max, have I mentioned that you both look incredibly hot tonight?" Dustin asked as he looked over Will, his hand reaching out to caress Max's hair before bringing it to rest gently on El's leg. El pushed his hand away, which Mike was glad for because he had to restrain himself to do it, but a little giggle burst through her lips as she caught Lucas' glare throughout the rear view mirror.

"Dude, back off." Lucas hissed as Dustin leaned over Will again to touch Max, the redhead laughing and blowing him a kiss with a wink. Lucas pushed his friend backwards and tapped Max's leg with a huff.

"Or what? You going to sing to me?" Dustin mocked as the car pulled up to a stop down the street from where music could be heard and teenagers could be seen walking towards the house. The group climbed out, Mike welcoming the fresh air as fast as he could and leaving Will to help his sister out of the car as she struggled to get out with her heels.

"No but I will hit you if you hit on my girlfriend tonight." Lucas snapped as he slammed his door shut and pointed a finger at Dustin, his eyes flickering to Mike who seemed to be breathing far too deep and avoiding any contact with El. Dustin followed his gaze, a small smirk appearing on his face as he made his way over to the group.

"So Ellie, what do you say?" Dustin asked as he wrapped an arm around El's shoulders, fingertips brushing the tops of her breasts slightly though neither seemed to notice. Mike glared at them both from where he stood behind them with Will, wasn't Dustin supposed to be with Susie or were they on yet another break because Dustin had said something stupid. He didn't know or care, he only felt slightly angry, especially as Dustin sent him a little grin over his shoulder. El grinned at Dustin, moving slightly so his hand just rested on her shoulder as she placed a kiss on the curly haired boys cheek.

"You're just to handsome for me, Dusty, but I can help you get one of those girls in there." El spoke as she pulled away and pointed to the house, a giggle escaping her lips as she noticed the red lip print on her best friends cheek. Dustin grinned back but didn't move to wipe it off, he was probably going to use it in the house. Mike rolled his eyes as the two made their way up the stairs and his stomach shifted uncomfortably. This was going to be a long night that most likely ended with Max and Lucas fighting, Will being quiet, Dustin crying about Susie and El bouncing off walls like a toddler on sugar. He wasn't prepared in the slightest.

* * *

The party on the inside was just as he suspected it would be. Drunk teenagers dancing around to the music, jocks dressed ironically as themselves as they whistled and threw lewd and crass comments at El and Max who led the group through the sweaty teenagers who seemed to be grinding on almost anything the could, Dustin grinning as a pretty girl tried to do it to him before he was pulled out of the way by Max.

The kitchen seemed to be the only place that teenagers weren't gathered despite the amount of drinks that littered the island in the middle. A giant punch bowl that seemed to be nearly empty, a few soda cans and what looked like twenty bottles of other liquor which Lucas looked at longingly before grabbing a can of coke with a grumble. He seemed to be taking his soberness seriously but Mike wondered how long that would last. They lived in Hawkins which wasn't that big, they could walk home in half an hour if needs be but the weather was chilly and Lucas wasn't going to put his friends at that risk.

"Lesson number one; Avoid the punch, it's always spiked." Max told the boys as she moved around the alcohol before pulling out her own bottle of vodka from underneath her jacket as though it was normal to keep things like that hidden. How did he not even notice? El moved around him, her arm brushing his as she grabbed five red cups and sent an apologetic smile Lucas' way."Lesson number 2; don't mix your drinks, it never ends up good, does it El?" 

El blushed a pretty pink and sent a glare to Max, while Mike wondered what had happened the last time she mixed drinks. Did she throw up or do what all over teenagers seemed to do and hook up with someone? It wasn't his problem, so instead he focused on the way her tan hands poured the vodka and coke into cups and passed them around before downing her own in one big gulp. Mike watched wide eyes as she made herself another one, taking a sip of his own and wincing as the vodka burned his throat.

It didn't take too long for the group to go their separate ways, Will spotting some friends he knew and got along with in art class, running to speak to them as Max and Lucas began speaking to her volleyball friends and then heading to the dance floor to well...it wasn't really dancing, and then Dustin was running towards some girl who had apparently winked at him which left Mike and El alone.

"Are you going to drink that?" El asked suddenly as she tapped her hands against the island, nodding to the drink in his hands that he had only managed to take two sips from, he opened his mouth to tell her he was taking it slow when her hand snatched it from his own and downed the whole thing before thrusting the cup back into his hands, a red lipstick stain barely standing out on the edge.

"No, El, I wasn't." He answered her sarcastically as she poured him and her another drink, he sipped it again and watched as she grinned when he didn't even bother to wipe the stain off his solo cup. They had drunk from the same bottle before so he could manage drinking from the same cup, plus he didn't know how dirty the rest would be and he didn't want to pick up a dirty cup laced with something. As he listened to the music playing, his head bobbing to the song, it escaped his notice that he had called her nickname for the first time without it being an insult though it didn't seem to have escaped El's.

* * *

The party continued on and their friends continued to do their own things, occasionally checking in with the two and being surprised to see they were laughing instead of fighting, alcohol having lowered their dislike of one another to almost nothing. Mike found El was quite hilarious when she had had a drink as she barely left his side, her hand always seeming to find an excuse to touch his arm, gripping tight as she bent over from laughter. Though he couldn't complain because he seemed to find the same excuse as he gently placed a hand around her shoulders when walking through the dancing teenagers or grabbing her fingers as he told her some childhood story.

"Hey Mike!" El shouted as she fell out of the bathroom, having dragged him upstairs with her and demanded that he wait by the door, he caught her around the waist and pulled her to stand, his hands staying at her hips as she looked up at him with a happy drunk smile. He smiled down at her before turning her around, his hands still on her hips but leading her down the stairs carefully and to the front door.

The air was cold and it hit him hard, making him feel ten times drunker than he already was, his feet slipping as they made it to the little lawn. He should have known that if he was clumsy sober than he would be worse when he was drunk as his feet slipped out under him and sent them both tumbling onto the lawn. He gasped and let out a huff of breath as he turned his head to see El laying beside him on her back, giggling before she turned to face him.

The grass was cold and wet, seeping into his clothes and sending chills throughout his body but he couldn't find the energy to get up as he stared at El, her perfume tickling his nose and her small fingers playing with his hand. He wondered what they looked like, just laying there staring at each other, probably like a couple he would imagine.

"I have a secret, remember you told me yours so I'm going to tell you mine." El whispered as she moved closer, a giggle escaping her throat once again and sending tingles up and down his spin as he raised an eyebrow. What secret could she possibly have? He expected it to be something like she had cheated on a test and not what she said next as she tapped him on the nose. "I think you are the most beautiful man I've ever seen and I've had a crush on you for the longest time."

It was like all the air had left his lungs as he stared at her shocked, feeling more sober than before. First he was kind of flattered that she thought he was beautiful, no one, not even his mother had called him that. Handsome, sure he heard that from his family but he had never believed it. Yet the compliment sounded so genuine from her lips as though no one could fight her on it. Yet the crush part was still processing in his mind, he didn't know how to take it, didn't even where it had come from. So instead of answering he stood himself up, El copying him.

His mouth opened to speak, jumbled words coming out raspy and barely a whisper. Mike didn't get a chance to say a real sentence as El's lips crashed against his, the sweet taste of coke and vodka on his lips in an instant. He didn't even think as his mouth moved against her own and his hips gripped her hips, a groan slipping through his mouth as El's sweet tongue invaded his mouth and her nails raked through his hair. He moved his hands to pull her closer, holding her at the small of her back. Never had he being kissed by someone like this (he had been kissed before by two other girls), never had he being kissed by...El.

"El stop." Mike whispered softly, pulling his arms back and pushing her away from him as gently as he could. Her eyes were almost black with lust as she looked up at him, he stared back taking in the smudged lipstick and the grass stains that littered her once white costume. Her small hands reached up to grab his face again but not before he held them in his own hands by his neck while shaking his head. "El, your drunk and - and well up until yesterday I was pretty sure we both still hated each other."

El blinked up at him, her bottom lip turning into a pout as she stumbled backwards, trying to escape his hold on her hands but instead he reached out to hold her waist so she wouldn't fall over, her ankle twisting sideways slightly. "Let go of me, Mike, I get it alright, you still hate me and I made a stupid error of judgement but trust me it won't be happening again, so just let me go." El snapped slightly as she tried to once again move out of his hold, he ignored the sinking feeling in his stomach. The kiss was great and maybe he thought they could try it again.

"No you don't get it El, I'm saying that if we were ever going to do this then it needs to be when you are sober and not because we have one good night. You told me you didn't want to fight anymore, and I get that, I do, but that's all we've done for four years, you can't spring what you are feeling on me when all I've known from you is hate or at least strong dislike." Mike tried to explain, he frowned as he stumble over his words a couple of times, clearly a lot drunker than he thought he was. He longed though to go back to half an hour ago when they were laughing and speaking as though they were friends, without El's glare on him.

"Fine, can you at least take me home then?" Mike stared down at her in surprise, he would have thought that she would have stormed off or shouted at him. But her glare fell off her face and she just looked tired, Mike nodded his head, he figured the least he could after basically rejecting her would be walking her home and making sure she didn't do something stupid and drunk like falling in a ditch or getting with one of the sexist jocks that had whistled earlier at her.

...

The walk home was long and tiring with an awkward silence that didn't seem to want to lift even as Mike tried to make small talk. El simply stayed quiet, only accepting the jacket that Mike gave to her and wrapping it tightly around herself so she wouldn't freeze in the chilling winds that surrounded Hawkins, see he could be a gentleman even if she was still mad at him.

El stopped as they reached their street, turning to face him and looking down at her feet, she wobbled slightly and then looked back at his face before clearly her throat and speaking perfectly, sounding sober to his ears as she gestured to her outfit with a soft smile. "Hey, I know things are weird between us and I would never normally ask this but can I stay at yours, my dad would kill me if he saw me wearing this."

He blinked as he turned to see his house behind them, the lights all turned off and his mothers car parked on the drive. He turned back around to face her, she looked so small as she kicked off her heels and let out a happy sigh when her feet touched the grass, it was quite cute if he was honest. Mike thought it over, he could probably have her in the basement, it just meant he would have to get her out early morning in case his mom came down for anything or he could just stay there in the basement with her. Did he want that though? To share the basement with the girl he had been fighting with for years but then she smiled up at him, all kind that all he could do was stare at her lips as her tongue came out to wet them.

He gripped her hand tightly and pulled her towards the basement door, stopping as he opened it, his hands moving at their own accord as they grabbed her cheeks softly. A part of him was screaming with joy as he reached down, looking into her eyes to check it was ok before he placed his lips on hers. It was more heated than the other kiss, as though their awkward silence had made them more filled with lust. They stumbled inside, careful to be quiet and giggling slightly as Mike knocked over a plant, before he groaned loudly as she pulled at his hair.

"I hate you." El whispered into his mouth as she pulled his hair and chuckled lowly when he growled, her confession just turning him on even more[ as he claimed her lips once again and let her lead him towards the old couch.

"I hate you too."

He did hate her. He hated how beautiful she was, how she seemed so perfect and kind. He hated how she took care of Will as though she had done it all along , how she made Dustin feel as though he was the funniest person in the world, laughing at each one of his jokes. He hated how she looked up to Lucas, listened to all of his advice and how she looked after Max, how made her the red heads favourite person in the world. He hated how despite everything she still cared for him when he didn't deserve it in the slightest but most of all because if he didn't hate her then he was pretty sure he would love her and that was far too scary to admit to himself.

A voice yelled inside his head, telling him to think about the consequences but he ignored them as he shut the door with his foot, groaning even louder as El began kissing down his neck, her tongue even coming to lick, nibbling slightly in a way that caused him to shiver. Mike fell back onto the couch with another groan as she moved to lay on top of him, taking control. He wasn't going to lie, he had never been this turned on in his entire life and El seemed to know as she chuckled and leaned down to kiss his neck, biting hard and giggling as his hips jutted upwards.

Mike was incredibly excited for what this night held.

* * *

Mike had never imagined his first time. He was a nerd and he always thought it would be with someone he loved and that was as far as he got. Only now he had done it and he could see why people kept on doing it, it was by far one the most enjoyable experiences of his entire life and El was the most beautiful person he had ever seen. He grinned at the ceiling as he thought about how he had made her enjoy it. Him! The nerd who had only ever kissed three girls had somehow managed to please someone to the point where he had to cover her mouth and bite him own lip from screaming out. 

He turned to look at where she laid partly on top of him, make up smudged and fast asleep with a content smile on her face, he nudged her and moved some hair off her face as grinned, thinking back to the angry but very hot stuff they had been doing not half an hour ago, he felt guilty still. He needed to get her up and home before the sun was up and his mother was up making breakfast. "El." He whispered in her ear and nudged her again.

"What?" El asked as she blinked up at him, frowning and stretching her arms above her head, the small cover he had placed on top of them moved to show her naked chest. Mike out a cough before pulling himself off the couch and into his underwear as fast as he could and moving to throw away the condom that sat next to the couch as fast as he could (he was thankful that his mother had left some down here even though he had blushed at the time). El sat up and watched him, wrapping the cover around her and catching the clothes that he threw at her.

"Need to get you dressed and home before my mum wakes up." Mike told her quietly as he pulled on a pair of sweats and his hoodie, cleaning up the basement as he went and turning his back so she could get dressed. He listened to her shuffle around, the rustle of her putting on clothes until it stopped and he bit his lips before speaking again. "And El?"

"Don't worry Mike, I won't tell anyone." El snapped as he turned around, watching as she stormed out of the basement before he could even speak. He collapsed onto the couch with a sigh as he thought about how fast things had turned around. He wasn't going to say anything like that, he just wanted to talk about what had happened between them because he understood how confusing things must have been for them. He had told her no and then practically jumped her, he knew that was probably messing with her head because it was messing with him.

He groaned and let his face fall onto the pillow that El had been sleeping on, her smell still lingered on it and all it did was make his head more and more confused. God, Hopper was going to kill him if he found out, any minute now the chief would march in with a gun and shoot his brains out. Mike didn't want to die yet, not when he had just had an amazing night with the girl who hated him.

He had hated her too for many reason but the main one was that he couldn't have her because he thought that she wouldn't ever want to be with a boy like him. A nerd who was so invested in science that he was bullied for it. Truth was he liked her, he kind of always had and he had just been angry because he thought she didn't like him back especially when she barely spoke to him, so he had been angry and forgotten his manners or how to treat her like a real human. His head pounded and ached, dealing with real feelings wasn't good when you were half drunk and half mad at yourself for your stupid drunk decisions.

Mike stumbled off the couch and towards the basement door, maybe some fresh air and the sunrise would make him feel better or at least sober him up. He wondered as he stumbled if his friends had made it home alright, if they were worried about how himself and El had gotten home. If Will was sat up awake wondering where El was or where she had been or why she had come in at five in the morning with grass stains all over her costume only to stop when he saw El sat outside his house, wearing the sweater that she had given back to him a week ago and some of his sweats, her shoulders shaking as though she was crying.

He made his way over carefully sitting beside her and watching out of the corner of his eye as she sent him a glare, tears dropping onto her costume that she had on her lap. He didn't even realise what he had thrown at her was his own clothes but it had to be warmer than what she had worn last night. In fact he found her kind of hot in his clothes.

"Haven't you hurt me enough tonight?" El asked harshly as she sent him another glare, he winced but he kind of figured he deserved some of the anger but maybe if she had let him explain then they could have been happy now, or at least she wouldn't be crying or now picking her red nails polish off her curved nails.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to say what you thought back there, I just wanted to talk, I won't lie though and say we should have probably done that sober but its probably the most exciting thing I've ever done in my life and I actually don't think I could have had a better first time." Mike explained, El rolled her eyes but there was a little smile on her face as though she looked pleased. "Listen there is a lot to discuss and I'm not saying we should date just yet, I mean I won't see anyone else but maybe we should try being like exclusive friends first."

"I think that's what people do before they have sex for the first time, but when have we been normal?" El asked with a teasing grin on her face, seeming happy at his plan. And he meant it, he wasn't going to be a dick but he didn't know her well enough to commit to a relationship and he was sure that would probably scare their friends and she seemed to understand that too as she continued speaking."Sure, let's be friends." Her tan hand was held out to him, he gingerly took it, blushing as he thought about where that had been.

"But when we are fully sober we have to make ground rules, cause unfortunately Wheeler, you can't have sex with your friends every time they mess up, unless that's just how you make up with everyone." She told him after two minutes of silence, dropping his hand while he rolled his eyes. Well, she had just admitted a way to stop her being mad at him, it kind of made him want to beam with pride.

"No that's only for you Hopper, I guess I'll have to control myself." He spoke with a dramatic sigh as he fell backwards onto the grass as she laughed. He was joking but now he had had a taste of what El had to offer it was going to be hard to keep his hands to himself, not think about what her hands could do and try his best not to think about it (though he broke that promise late that night but she didn't need to know that).

She sighed as though it was her who was getting the bad end of their deal, like she wouldn't be able to control herself (he kind of wished she wouldn't) and leaned her head on his shoulder but kept her hands on her lap. She was willing to he his friends despite the fact that they were clearly going backwards. Hate, fuck, friends, they didn't make sense but he kind of liked it so he allowed himself in that one moment to not be scared as he rested his head onto of hers and took his hand in hers and entwined their fingers together (they'd figure it out eventually but for now friendship sounded good).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I hoped you enjoyed this chapter.
> 
> There is a reason that I don't want them together yet, that I made them jump straight to sex and that is because I didn't want this to be another Stranger Things story where they meet and fall in love, fight later on and then get back together. 
> 
> I love complicated characters that are passionate and these two in my head are pretty passionate people but right now is not the time for them to be skipping down hallways holding hands. No, they need to learn to be friends while facing the challenge that is teenage hormones.
> 
> So anyway I hoped you all liked it and please comment, leave kudos and hey! maybe even subscribe to my little account but only if you want to.
> 
> And as always please stay safe and don't take any risks, not in these times.


	5. Movie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello I am back again with another chapter.
> 
> It's a bit short but hopefully you all like it.
> 
> Thank you to everyone who has being commenting, you are making my lockdown a bit better, which now only certain people are allowed to work, so hopefully this won't go on longer if people actually listen for once but we will see.
> 
> Anyway enjoy.
> 
> I don't own Stranger Things.

People always fell into three categories with romance. There was the ones who didn't care for it all; the ones who enjoyed it to a certain extent; and then those who wanted every single thing in their life to be straight out a romance novel.

El personally had always thought that she was number three. She loved her soaps, her romantic novels, and wanted nothing more than to be swept off her feet by a handsome man, falling in love the moment they locked eyes. So she was surprised to find herself in the number two category, not that Mike wasn't handsome but he certainly hadn't swept her off her feet (more like accidentally pushed her off her feet and onto grass) and in all honesty she wasn't even thinking about holding his hand or kissing him in the rain. She kind of just liked the idea of chilling with him.

She had also been surprised to find that her anger towards him had simply been down to her pushed down feelings and the thought that he wouldn't like her back, which she had been kind of right about (he was conflicted between his anger and emotions El had guessed). Yet despite everything he still made her feel so challenged about every little thing she did and that thrilled her to no end. It was like she suddenly felt alive. 

When he had kissed her, his large hands so gentle on her face, she hadn't even been able to think. Or maybe she hadn't wanted to. It was so easy to get lost in that moment, one full of passion and every little thing they had held back, and it would have been so easy to regret it, to scream in his face, but she didn't, not at all. El had enjoyed every single moment she had spent with him, including the sunrise they had watched together as they held hands, like they had been doing it for years.

"Where did you disappear to this weekend?" El let out a little gasp as she jumped, snapping out of her thoughts just in time to pull her hands as her locker was slammed shut. Her normally kind eyes turned to glare at the curly haired boy, Dustin who didn't seemed too happy with either but did that mean he had to almost break her hands.

Sunday. Shit, El thought as she finally realised why he was so angry. They had had plans to meet up on Sunday and eat at Benny's with the rest of the group. Yet she had stayed in her room with a stupid grin on her face, her family hadn't even realised she was home until the evening when she made her way downstairs with the same stupid grin on her face though Will hadn't mentioned anything, just narrowed his eyes and headed to his room.

"Shit, I'm sorry, I just had some things to think about, but I can make it up to you, how about a Star Wars marathon tonight? " El asked with a cheeky grin as she gripped his hands in hers and moved around to lay her head on his shoulder while pouting up at him. Dustin glared down but his lips twitched, El knew he would use this to brag he was her best friend and since Max probably wasn't going to talk to her for the rest of the day then she could use a bit of cheering up. It also meant she was going to have go to the video store and rent the movies.

"Well we both know I'm going to agree to that, it would have been nice to have known you were alive and Mike didn't kill you." Not in the way you think, El thought as she blushed but kept her mouth shut. It would do no good to say that she was almost killed in orgasms, which in turn only made her laugh slightly. "What? I was worried, he didn't turn up yesterday and the only way I knew you was alive was because Will said you were there eating dinner when he got home."

"Well my dear, Dusty I am sorry, so how about we forget all about this weekend and indulge ourselves on snacks and the force?" El asked as she linked her arms with his, pulling him towards their home room as the warning bell rang. Hopefully she could formulate some sort of excuse for yesterday that wouldn't have him questioning what had really happened.

* * *

The Hopper-Byers home was almost silent apart from the sound of the TV and the occasional bit of popcorn or oreos, or the laughter from the two sat on the couch. El smiled as Dustin imitated Chewie's growl, happy that he seemed to have forgotten the issue of Sunday. Max hadn't but she was on a date with Lucas, so they would speak tomorrow and Will was with Joyce to look at some art school/college two hours away. And Mike, well he was probably at home as they hadn't invited him, not that El had spoken to him without a shy smile on her face that came with seeing someone naked (he had the same smile too).

"Will!" Speak of the devil it seems as the front door opened, Dustin and El looking over the back of the couch just as Mike walked into the house. El briefly wondered when he had started inviting him in but didn't speak as she took in his wide eyes and the way he was looking around. His eyes were even wider as he stared at the two, something strange flickering across his face as his jaw tensed. Was he jealous? That thrilled El. "Oh sorry, I did - I knocked."

"No problem, we were watching A New hope and you know Dustin likes it loud." El told him, Dustin snickering beside her while Mike raised an eyebrow as if to say 'Really? You sure it's him that likes to be loud?', El blushed as she caught onto the dirty innuendo before turning to punch Dustin in the arm with a glare and then turning back to Mike. He looked uncomfortable, eye flicking back to the door and his hands in his pockets. "Do you want to join us?"

"I don't want to be...intruding on anything." Mike told them as he pulled his hands out his pockets and sent them a tense smile.

"Shut up and join the dark side." Dustin told his friend in a poor imitation of the Emperor as he moved to the end of the sofa, turning back to the television and grabbing the box of oreos. El moved to the middle, smiling as Mike moved to sit beside her, his warm arm brushing her own and his fingers playing beside her thigh, Dustin not even noticing as he focused on the TV. Mike took this opportunity to whisper in El's ear. 

"Maybe next Halloween we could go as Han and Leia." El shivered as his lips moved cautiously down the back of her ear before he pulled away with a smirk, El turned to say something back before stopping as she noticed Dustin's glare giving El chance to think about what she wanted to say. If Mike wanted to play dirty then so could she.

"Only if I get to wear the gold bikini." El whispered back as soon as Dustin turned back to the TV, making sure to keep her voice barely audible as her tongue came out slightly against his ear. She chuckled lowly as she moved away, he was frowning, cheeks turning red as he bit into his bottom lips and let a small groan escape the back of his throat. His hand brushed her back as he pulled the pillow from behind her and placed it onto his lap, shifting slightly as he tried not to make it obvious to their friend who was still watching the movie with fascination as though it was the first time he'd seen it and not the fiftieth.

"Not fair." Mike muttered more to himself than to her but it had her smirking. El reached for the popcorn on the table and ignored the confused look that Dustin sent them. It was understandable, two days ago El and Mike hadn't even been speaking and now they were sat close together and whispering as though they were friends sharing secrets. Which they kind of were but Dustin didn't need to know how they got there, just that they had got along on Saturday and had enough of the fighting, or at least that was the story until they figured themselves out.

* * *

Two hours later and it was ten o'clock, Dustin was snoring loudly as the third movie played, his hat had fallen off and his feet were in El's lap (there was also a piece of popcorn on his cheek but El didn't really think that needed to be mentioned). El sighed, Hopper was doing the late shift and wouldn't be back just yet but Joyce and Will would probably be back soon, meaning she only had a limited amount of time with Mike, probably not enough time to do what she was thinking of doing with him.

"So these rules..." Mike brought up suddenly as he shifted again. El nodded her head, they needed to be discussed but really she would rather be doing anything else than speak about this. Yet they couldn't because Mike didn't know how he really felt yet and she wasn't going to be someone who just has casual sex with no strings attached . She was an emotional girl who needed some stability in her life (after everything with her parents it was the least she could ask for), one night maybe two would be fun but she wasn't going to be a booty call no matter how much she wanted to do it again.

"Right well, same as we said before but I think we should add no teasing on there." El told him with a cheeky smile as Leia decided to make an appearance in her golden bikini making Mike groan again and push the pillow further into his lap causing El to laugh softly. 

"Agreed, and maybe we shouldn't tell anyone, I don't everyone making a big deal out of it before things get figured out." Mike winced as he spoke, waiting to see her reaction but she fully agreed. Dustin and Max would make the biggest deal out of it, Will would probably feel uncomfortable around them while Lucas would be torn between patting Mike on the back and defending El (like she needed it but it was what he had always tried to do). 

"I agree, you don't know what you want yet." El told him softly as she turned back to watch the TV. Thankfully she knew what happened because she couldn't focus on it for even a second as Mike shifted beside her with a frown on his face. An urge to tell him that if he frowned anymore then he was going to look like that permanently but the words wouldn't leave her throat. It was as though they were trapped harshly there. 

"Do you?"

Yes she did. Or at least she thought she did. Because she had always thought she had known what she wanted.

When she was younger it had been that she had thought that she wanted to live with her mom when her parents had their messy divorce but that had turned out to be her biggest mistake when Brenner came along in his dark suits and cold looks. (She hid her shiver from Mike. And then her mom got sick, and El didn't want to stay there anymore (not with him and what he had done) so her dad came and collected her but not without threatening Brenner.

When she came here she had thought she wanted it to just be her and her dad. Her heart was broken with everything she had suffered, it was healing though through their bond and her friends. Then Joyce came along (obviously she knew Joyce through Will but she never really came to El's house before), and El wanted to fight what was happening but then she saw them together, all smiles and happy, then she knew she couldn't. And so her little family was brought together.

And now in her teens she yet again had something to decide on. Nerves wracked her body, she could tell him. Tell him that she wanted this and hear the answer that he didn't want her yet or she could keep it to herself and let things move on. They could be friends and nothing more. Or she could say nothing and let him decide for them both.

"What did I miss?" Dustin asked as sat up, his feet nearly kicking El in the face and the piece of popcorn falling off his cheek as he looked to his friends before sitting himself up and turning back to the movie not even waiting for them to answer as he began moaning about how he missed Leia, and then grabbing the oreos with another grumble.

They sat for the next twenty minutes in complete silence, El with her hands on her lap and her eyes unfocused in the direction of the TV. It was like tension filled the air around them, only breaking as the door slammed open with a bang and Hopper stomped in, the sound of his keys dropping in the bowl beside the door before being followed by his jacket being hung up. El looked over the couch with a smile, rolling her eyes as Hopper came into the room with a hand on his gun as though he was going to catch El doing something she shouldn't be (a bit late for that).

"Oh shit, Henderson did you eat all my oreos?" Hopper asked with a groan as he moved to stand behind the couch, ruffling El's hair and placing Dustin's hat back on his hand while smirking as Mike seemed to shrink into a corner. It seemed she could spend the night with four boys while Max was there but spending the night with Dustin and Mike had put him a bit on edge. She understood, he was under the same impression as everyone else.

"Sorry Hop, now if you don't mind I'm going to go to sleep." Dustin told the the chief with his usual sass that had the man rolling his eyes as he watched the young man pull off his hat and place a pillow over his face. El smirked as she watched Mike look between the men with wide eyes as though he was afraid of what Hopper would do to Dustin.

"Did you call Mrs Henderson?" Hopper asked El as she began picking up the mess that surrounded the three teens. 

"Yeah, she said thank you." El told her dad with a small smile as she hit Dustin in the leg. She was used to making the calls for her friend, used to him staying over. His mom was a single mother mother who worked crazy shifts so Joyce or Hopper had never had a problem with him staying over, even before El explained that there was nothing more going on between them. Their house was the place for sleepovers it seemed (as well as Mike's though she had never been invited to them ones), Max practically lived with them, her clothes taking up half of El's wardrobe and washed by Joyce (without an issue), which normally meant that Lucas tagged along. The only one who hadn't stayed over as much as the rest was Mike but El had a feeling that that was going to change. "Dustin just go sleep in Jonathan's room." El added as she pulled the boy off the sofa and watched as he stumbled up the stairs before she followed Hopper to the kitchen.

"Jesus, he drank all my coke too?" Hopper asked as he looked into the fridge and then over his shoulder into the living room. El rolled her eyes as she placed things in the bin, he never drank coke only beer and coffee. "Wheeler, are you staying here too?" Hopper asked as he glared at Mike when he entered the kitchen with his hands full of empty coke cans, his eyes wide and his shoulders tense as he looked up (only by an inch).

"No I was just going to help El-Jane clean up and then head home before my mum sends a search party." Mike explained as El took the cans from him and watched as he shuffled on his feet before saying a quiet goodbye to El and heading out of the door, Hopper following behind him and speaking in soft tones so that El couldn't hear what was being said. Only sign that Mike was gone was his pale skin almost like a light in the black sky as he made his way up the street as she watched him through the kitchen window.

"So do I have to worry about Wheeler now?" El hissed as she caught her finger on the sharp edge of the counter, before turning to glare at her dad who stood behind her with his hands on his hips and a stern expression on his face. It was hard to take him serious as he had never been stern for more than five seconds before, always too worried about being seen as the bad guy or...like Brenner.

"No dad, we are just finally getting along, its nice."

"Yeah that something else when I was your age so just let me or Joyce know if I need to buy condoms." Hopper said with a raised eyebrow and a laugh as El threw popcorn at his face, her own face bright red. No need to tell her dad that Mike already had some courtesy of his mother or that Joyce had taken her to the doctors for the pill two months ago because she wanted El to be prepared. El was glad that she was, she was smart enough to know that condoms weren't always 100% effective.

Hopper had since removed himself from the kitchen and most likely to his bedroom leaving El alone. She loved her dad, she really did. He was the one who had always been there and never once let her down and she was glad that he trusted her, knew she was growing up and that these things were going to happen. Didn't mean she wanted to speak about it with him but she appreciated that he trusted her enough. Nor was she going to mention what had happened on Saturday or why her costume was hidden deep in her wardrobe and practically green, or mention that Mike and her had done the 'nasty'.

No El was going to be the typical teenager who kept those sorts of things away from their parents.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I hope you enjoyed.
> 
> As you can see, El and Mike are already struggling with rules and they will continue to struggle. Don't worry though, Mike will figure out how he feels soon enough. I just need a bit of angst first.
> 
> Please comment and leave kudos, it keeps me going.
> 
> And please stay safe by staying inside, don't risk your life please.


	6. Talk to Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello and sorry.
> 
> I really lost hope with this story after I wrote the last chapter. I just couldn't get in the right headspace to write it and every time I went to write I just ended up staring at my screen with a frown and maybe one sentence.
> 
> I know things are shit right now so I kind of forced myself to sit down and keep writing. It might not be the best chapter and I am so sorry for that but I wanted to come back and finish this story even if it takes me years (which it will not, that I promise).
> 
> So anyway, here is a shit chapter which I apologise for. And I really hope you are all safe and looking after yourselves.
> 
> I don't own Stranger Things.

"Hey babe." Max said as she strode up to sit beside El, her red hair blowing in the cold wind and her skateboard hooked under one arm. El shivered, wishing she had worn jeans like Max and maybe a coat instead of a skirt and a nice jumper but alas she had made a mistake and now she was forced to deal with it for the sake of her friend who had requested her presence away from the cafeteria.

"Is Lucas not joining us?" El asked as she gingerly tucked into her lunch.

"No, I thought we would have a nice little girl chat." The sandwich which was halfway to El's mouth froze as she turned to look at her best friend. Max was not known for her girl chats (in fact they were few and far between) so whatever she needed to speak about now required up most attention and careful answers. El placed her sandwich back onto her bag and turned to look at Max with wide eyes, waiting for the girl to speak but she just stared at El with narrowed blue eyes.

"What's wrong Max?"

"Nothing wrong with me, but clearly there is something bugging you."

El frowned as she thought of what to say. Yes there had been something bugging her, making her chest ache and her throat close up, and it was something that she hadn't told anyone because they had promised not to. Mike and her god damn confusing feelings for him. At first she thought she hated him (secretly she knew that wasn't true), then when they slept together she knew for definite that she didn't hate him, and now she was toeing the fine line between holding back her feelings and just letting herself fall for him. It made her feel like one of those sappy girls from her soaps who swooned over the man and honestly she didn't like the feeling.

Almost giggling and feeling her cheeks blush when he so much as smiled at her in passing was not something she was at all interested in but it was something she couldn't seem to stop. It was annoying her and yet it felt so fucking good that she couldn't even describe it anymore. The fact that he didn't seem to even notice it, if the way he simply carried on with his life or whatever he was doing, seeming to be unbothered by El's reaction to him or maybe he just didn't care, or maybe she could give him the benefit of the doubt and just say he was so oblivious that he really didn't know.

"See you've just zoned out for five minutes, so instead of keeping secrets from your best friend why don't you just tell me what's going on." Max suggested with a raised eyebrow as she bit into her sandwich. El frowned and opened her mouth before closing it again. "Ellie, I know it had something to do with Wheeler and the weird friendly thing you both have going on."

"I don't know what's going on, nothing really makes sense."

"What do you have to make sense about, I mean it's not like you slept toge- Jane Eleanor Hopper no you didn't!" Max shouted suddenly as she watched El's face drain of colour, eyes dropping to look at the ground beneath her chucks. "And you didn't even think to tell your best friend of however many years!"

"It was a spur and slightly drunken decision, and we promised to never ever do it again and just be friends." El tried to defend herself as she avoided looking at Max's shocked face as El admitted the truth. The words stung her own heart as she knew they weren't true for her, that she wanted to be more than just friends even if she still didn't really want to admit that to herself just yet.

"Right because that always works out."

"Max, you don't need to be sarcastic ok, I get it, you're mad that I didn't tell you." El snapped, turning her brown eyes to glare at Max who rolled her eyes and leaned back onto her hands, red hair blowing gently in the wind. 

"Fuck yeah I am but I'll get over that." Max admitted with her own glare (if El wasn't her friend then she would have feared slightly for her life) before she continued speaking, her tone softening as she reached out to squeeze El's arm as she spoke. "I'm worried Ellie that this isn't going to end well for you." El turned to frown at Max as she tilted her head to the side.

"What do you mean?" El asked. Personally she couldn't see that far ahead nor could she see what Max was even on about. Sure she had no idea how Mike even felt about her, but that didn't mean that his feelings couldn't change for her, if they could be friends then they could progress into something else.

"Babe it's obvious to me that you have some sort of feelings for Mike, I mean why else would you, the girl who loves romance, just simply have a one night stand with a guy you have always claimed to hate." Max explained, spot on as usual.

El didn't regret what had happened that night but she could see what Max was talking about. El loved romance, she loved love and dates and romance. Her first time wasn't exactly the most romantic time, sure, but it was filled with passion and feelings (even if they weren't the most loving ones), but then had been it. Nothing afterwards but friendship and maybe some lusting (from only El's side it seemed).

"So what if I have feelings for Mike, it is what it is." El answered after a few seconds, her tongue rolling around in her mouth as she stared at her lunch that had yet to be touched.

"I'm not saying that's a bad thing, but does Mike have feelings for you?" Max asked carefully, her voice slow like she was speaking to a scared toddler. El frowned and picked at the crust of her sandwich, sprinkling the crumbs onto the brown paper bag below it.

"I don't know - I initiated everything, if he didn't like me at least a small bit then why would he kiss me back or have sex with me?"

"Ellie, you know why, you've had boyfriends before but if you want me to say it out loud for you then I will." Max huffed out, El clenched her jaw, she knew what Max was going to say but she wasn't sure if she wanted to hear it. It didn't matter because Max started speaking again straight away. "You are a beautiful girl who threw herself at a guy, who lets be honest is at the bottom of the high school food chain, and who like many other men think with their dicks."

"He agreed not to date anyone else." El mumbled out but her voice wasn't full of confidence as she spoke. El rolled her shoulders back and rubbed her hands together to get rid of any lasting crumbs before she turned back to look at Max who was staring at her with a raised eyebrow.

"You have doubts about that?" Max asked, tilting her head to the side and then taking a large bite out of her own sandwich, filling her mouth so that she wouldn't interrupt El.

"Troy basically said the same, then he cheated and then he dumped me." El explained, rolling her eyes. Sure she liked Troy a little but it wasn't like her heart was broken when she found out. No, what she remembered was sitting in that AV room with Mike, his soft tone as he gave her a slight bit of comfort and the strange but familiar twisting in her stomach. El sighed and carried on speaking, looking away from Max and playing with her skirt. "Listen I know you are right, it's been on my mind for days but I need to have a little hope that it meant something to Mike and that he wasn't just thinking he could get lucky."

"Then hold onto that hope, but just don't rule yourself off to other people because of his promises, ok?" Max spoke softly.

Yet El could hear the concern in her voice, the one that was warning her underneath her words that El was going to end up hurt. But she did what she always did when someone tried to tell her something she didn't want to hear, she placed it in the back of her mind and hoped that her best friend was wrong.

...

Despite Max's words that was exactly what El did, ignoring the words of her best friend like she said she would. She waited for any sort of sign that Mike wanted her back, even the smallest things but the disappointment remained, he simply acted as though they were friends, treating her like he did Max.

El had personally thought, especially when the posters for the snowball dance were placed around the school, that he might ask her. Jealously burning up in her stomach as she watched other girls be asked, even some of the boys be asked but yet he didn't even seem bothered by it, ignoring the posters and shrugging his shoulders when their friends asked.

"So I'm thinking of asking Jennifer to the dance." Dustin announced to the group one day as they sat around their table for lunch, his grin on full display as everyone turned around to look at him.

"What about Suzie?" Lucas asked with his mouth full, frowning when Max kicked him under the table with a disgusted look before she turned to look back at Dustin with eager eyes.

"Dude she lives miles away and we are on a break." Dustin admitted, his grin falling slightly as he stabbed at whatever was on his tray of food. El couldn't make it out but it looked like maybe some sort of meatloaf, except slightly grey and it didn't smell like it at all, which was exactly why most of the students stuck to their packed lunches.

"Again?"

"Well if she says no then you can always ask El." El blinked and looked to Max who shrugged her shoulders, eyes going to Mike who was simply looking at his friends with no emotion on his face. It was obvious that she was trying to get some sort of reaction from the dark haired boy and was now clearly disappointed that they didn't have one.

"Or the singles could go in a group, El could be the date for Will, Mike and Dustin, since I have Max." Lucas added, eyes flicking to Mike who began eating his lunch, his face still holding no emotion.

"I have a date." Everyone turned to look at Will who blushed and looked away.

"And I have a few backups." El raised her eyebrows at Dustin, feigning as though she was offend as she held her hand to her heart and made her bottom lip quiver as Dustin gulped. "Not that I wouldn't want to take you El but I honestly don't think you'd give me what I would be after once the dance has finished." He waggled his eyebrows as El smirked and rolled her eyes, finally noticing the way Mike hesitated slightly to put the food in his mouth before he continued.

"Honestly so romantic, tell me how you got Suzie to go out with you again." El sighed dramatically as she leaned onto her hand and batted her eyes.

"So I guess Mike will have to take El." El looked down at her food, sure it wasn't the way she wanted to be asked but the thought that she might get to go to the dance with Mike was enough for her to start smiling. She sent a small smile to Max who smirked slightly, blue eyes on Mike as he coughed.

"What? I didn't agree to that." Mike laughed out, as though the thought was amusing, he carried on, twisting the knife further into El's stomach. "Come on, me and El dancing, no sorry not interested." Mike rushed out, El's smile fell as she gulped and pushed back the tears at the slight disgust in his tone. She could feel Max grip her thigh tightly from where she sat beside her.

"Now that's rude." Lucas whispered under his breath.

"It's just - that I - well I - me and El - yeah." Mike stuttered out, El could fell him looking at her, probably hoping she would help him out of this situation but El simply looked up and made sure to keep her face emotionless (a skill she had learnt from Hopper).

"Man, what's wrong with you?" Dustin snapped, looking more offended than El did in that moment well Mike looked shocked. "El is a beautiful girl who you would be lucky enough to take to a dance as a friendly date."

"Thanks Dustin, but it's fine, Mike doesn't want to go with me then there are people who do." El announced. Sure there were a few people who had asked her, she had turned them down in hopes that Mike would ask her but clearly she shouldn't have been so quick as to turn them down. Maybe they wouldn't mind that she had changed her mind or maybe she just wouldn't go.

"You've been asked by other people?" Mike asked suddenly, eyes wide as he looked at her. El turned to look at him coldly, taking slight joy in the way he flushed slightly and turned back to his food as she answered.

"Yeah."

"And you didn't say anything to them?" Lucas asked for the gang, El shifted uncomfortably as all eyes turned to look at her. She didn't like all the attention, didn't like the way she was feeling right now (annoyed, sad and maybe a bit jealous), it all felt like too much.

"Well no, frankly I - it doesn't matter, if I want to go to the dance then I know there are people who will take me." El bit out, packing away her uneaten lunch (she seemed to be doing that a lot lately) and shoving it in her bag as stuttered over her words. "Anyway, I need to go." El stood up, feeling her friends eyes following her. They knew something was wrong, Max knew better than all of them, but they understood her well enough to know that she wanted some space. Still it didn't stop those blue eyes of Max turning to send Mike a quick glare.

...

"Do we really need to join them at the arcade?" El asked grumpily after school as she skated beside Max, glad she didn't bring her bike today so she could at least talk to her best friend without having to slow down.

"Well no, but I wanted to play dig dug and you know if you don't join then they will know something is really wrong with you." Max told her, like she had been telling her for days as El avoided everyone but Max.

It was just that she didn't want to see them. Or him. He clearly didn't want anything more than friendship and that much was clear now so why had she even been wasting her time on someone. So instead she focused on her school and her other friends, staying away from Mike's questioning gaze and Dustin's non-stop questions. "Nothings wrong."

"So you don't feel upset that Wheeler is a dick who doesn't want to take you to the dance." Max didn't ask the question, no she just said it sarcastically and full of doubt.

"He wasn't compelled to." El shrugged as she spoke. That was her one fault, thinking that because they had slept together that he owed her this much, clearly she had expected too much of him.

"El, it's fine to feel upset about it, hell I wanted to beat his ass but I know you don't want the boys to know so I held my fists of fury back." Max sighed as though not being able to beat Mike up was far too upsetting for her.

"What's there to know about? 'Yeah guys me and Mike slept together after years of hating each other and clearly it meant nothing to him if how he was disgusted by taking me to a dance was anything to go by'."

"Personally I would throw in a few more insults and cry a little, fake it a bit so the boys beat his ass. Maybe admit everything to Hop so he shoots him." Max added with a smile, miming shooting a gun as she skated, incredibly steady and talented on her board unlike El who tried to stop herself from stumbling over a bump in the road.

"I'll keep that in mind." El responded dryly as the two stopped outside the arcade, they could see the boys inside, laughing together as they playing their games.

"Just make sure Hop calls me to help bury the body, I know a guy." Max pulled her board under her arm as she spoke, eyes wide before she winked and headed towards the door. El stopped beside her and frowned as she kept her hand on the door handle, pulling it open slowly.

"Sure you do, but just so I know, was that someone you met through a cell when you were bothering my dad while he was working because I hate to inform you Maxie, but Fred is a drunken idiot who got arrested for pulling down his pants near Mrs Hawthrone's house, not for killing a man with a spoon like he said." El whispered the last part as the two walked inside, past a couple who were heading out.

"Why did you have to take that away from me?" Max snapped as she smacked El's arm before she glared. El let out a little chuckle.

"Who's taking what away from Max?" The girls looked to see Mike frowning down at them, El rolled her eyes as Max raised his eyebrows at them. El could almost smell his washing detergent from how close he stood and it was doing nothing but remind her how annoyed she was with him at this moment.

"None of you business Wheeler." El spoke out as she moved past him, careful not to touch him as she went to join Dustin, though not moving far away enough that she couldn't hear what Mike or Max was going to say to one another.

"What she said." Max followed, patting his shoulder and chuckling at his confused expression, El smiled and moved away from Dustin and towards her brother.

"How was Hop?" Will asked as Max joined him beside his game with El practically resting her head on his shoulder, something that was harder now he was taller than her, but it was comforting to her at the moment as it was something that both their parents seemed to have had a habit of doing to them.

"Great, guess who is joining you for Christmas." Max answered for the girls instead of El but it was nothing new. Max would go and see Hop without them there, she had done before and then turned up with him and a pizza at the house.

"Didn't you join them for Thanksgiving?" Dustin asked as he wrapped an arm around El's shoulder and pulled her into him, almost knocking her jaw back against Will's shoulder. El smiled and allowed him to snuggle against him, aware that he was just being slightly jealous at the moment because his mother had made him spend Thanksgiving with her and Steve at home.

"Your dad can't fly you back then?" Will asked, moving the buttons fast underneath his fingers that it was hard to even see what he was pressing, a frown on his face as the girls and him ignored the jealous Dustin.

"No and mum and stepshit are off on holiday, plus Billy hasn't been in touch." Max mumbled out, it was easy to hear the worry in her voice for Billy who had a habit of checking in every few months or whenever he wanted but hadn't been seen in a while as he preferred to stay away from his father.

"Well let me know when he calls because I would love to see him again." El told Max with slight sarcasm. Everyone remembered the last time they saw Billy as the adult had gotten drunk and ended up having to be driven home by Max and El, who had no licence and no way to fix the tire on his car that 'accidently' popped when Billy almost fell out of the car after nearly throwing up on the girls.

"I don't know whether to be happy with your sarcasm or offended that its directed towards my brother." Max said though there was a tinge of proudness in her voice.

"Guys a dick but honestly I just want to see his muscles." El admitted, looking far away as she drifted off to picturing Billy in his typical white vest, a sigh escaping her lips as she looked up to see everyone (even Mike who looked more than disgusted) staring at her. "What? Billy is good looking, I would be an idiot not to notice that."

"Would you like it if I spoke about how good looking Will is?" Max asked, Will blushed and moved away from the machine.

"I wouldn't mind." El admitted, shrugging her shoulders.

"I would." Lucas added after El, glaring at his female friend who simply winked at him. El felt slightly happier being surrounded by her friends than she had done in the past few days of avoiding him. Teasing El and cuddling her big teddy bear of a best friend was something she didn't even know she had missed until she was forced to participate in it.

"Shut up stalker, you know I only want you." 

"Back to Billy, let me know when he calls or if he's single, maybe even mention my name to him." El added after a few seconds of silence. She heard Mike make a sound of disgust from behind her as Max rolled her eyes.

"That's disgusting, I am not going to set you up with my brother." Max told her, a slight smile on her face.

El chuckled as Max pushed her shoulder, almost causing her to stumble into Mike who seemed to be ready to catch her, confusion and slight annoyance on his face as he looked down at El, who paid him no mind and pouted as she spoke. "Well now I am just disappointed."

"Horny little bitch." Max muttered under her breath, El rolled her eyes and threw Dustin's arm off her shoulder as she dragged Lucas along with her to play a different game, Will having died when El started teasing Max as he was far too distracted to even play the game when the two were bickering behind him.

"Do you really have the hots for Billy?" Lucas asked as he placed a quarter in the machine, El rolled her eyes again and watched him play, eyes solely focused on the screen.

"Of course not, I just like to tease Max." El admitted. Sure Billy was a good looking guy but he was also a bit of a dick who didn't seem to care about the consequences of his actions. Though he was slightly better now than when he was an eighteen year old, calling to make sure Max was ok was a big step up for him.

"That is pretty fun." Lucas added, hand wiggling on the machine before he let out a groan and turned to El. "Shit, your turn."

"Am I next?" The two turned to look at Mike who was stood with a slight smile on his face looking between the two. El looked away and clicked her tongue, she noticed how Lucas sent her a small look, leaning beside her as he looked at Mike.

"Sure, if she dies, you know she's pretty good at this game." El smirked to herself and began playing, she could feel Mike stood behind her, could see Lucas watching the screen with a straight face like he was slightly annoyed. El wondered briefly if Max had said anything to him but she didn't think she had, maybe Mike had told him what had happened but she wasn't going to ask (if he didn't know then she would just be throwing herself in the shit). "And don't stand to close to her, pisses her off and we both know having El pissed off at you is not a good thing."

It was a subtle hint that Mike seemed to sense as he took a step backwards. If Lucas didn't know why she was upset with Mike then he at least knew something was going on.

...

"Did you want Mike to ask you to the dance?" Lucas asked later that night as he sat himself down on El's bed. Max was in the shower, Will, Dustin and Mike were downstairs doing whatever they were doing.

El frowned at her pyjama bottoms, picking at a loose thread by her ankles. Her and Lucas were close, not as close as her and Will or even her and Dustin but they were still good friends who would do anything for each other and would hang out alone without having to worry about Max getting jealous or everyone questioning them. It wasn't unusual to see El waiting for Lucas on the bleachers when he playing basketball or for him to even drive her home afterwards. It was just pure friendship.

"Maybe."

"So you did? You like him?" Lucas asked, sounding like his little sister eager for gossip though without Erica's usual sass. He seemed to realise as he cringed and lowered his voice when he spoke again. "El come on, you can tell me, you know this."

"I'm only telling you because I feel like you won't stop bugging me and because at least Max won't have to keep it a secret." El admitted, she didn't mean to sound like a bit of a bitch but she was also hoping she could get a boys perspective on this, someone who had a real relationship with a girl, who knew Mike well enough to tell her what he was thinking.

"Tell me then."

"MeandMikeslepttogetherandnowIlikehimbutIdon'tthinkitmeantthesametohim." El spat out in one sentence, Lucas' eyebrows raised as he looked at El, she was expecting him to ask her to say it again but he surprised her.

"Oh that, yeah well Mike - he kind of told me." El was surprised. She had kind of figured that Lucas knew something by the way he had seemed annoyed earlier on but she didn't except Mike to tell one of his closest friends what had happened. Not that she was annoyed because she had told Max and at least it meant she didn't have to go through the whole awkward conversation again.

"He did?"

"Yeah, had a right go at him about it, but he said that you two just got caught up in the moment and that you didn't like him, clearly that was a lie." Lucas told El with a roll of his eyes as he laid back fully on her bed, feet dangling off the edge and head almost off the bed too.

"So I was right that it didn't mean the same to him." El mumbled under her breath but it seemed Lucas heard as he sat himself back up and frowned at her. Not like he was annoyed but like he was trying to understand the whole situation.

"No I think it meant something to him, but the guy is clueless and probably thought that it meant nothing to you or hasn't figured out how it means to him yet." Lucas tried to explain but there was some doubt in his voice. El rolled her eyes, she understood that Lucas wasn't trying to take sides but the need to defend his friends was an instinct for him.

"Fucking bullshit, he kind of knew I liked him since I admitted it to him." 

"Ah - I - I have nothing to say to that." Lucas added lowly after a second, grimacing. The two stopped as they heard soft footsteps making their way up the stairs and towards El's room.

"What are you doing in here?" Mike asked with a frown as he suddenly appeared in the doorway, seeming surprised to see Lucas in El's room, brown eyes showing some sort of emotion that El couldn't even figure out as she looked at him.

"Speaking to El, what are you doing?" Lucas asked back, turning his eyes to El who shrugged her shoulders.

"I was coming up to find you, just didn't know I would find you up here like this." Mike spoke out with a raised eyebrow, looking at the way Lucas was laid across the foot of El's bed and El was half tucked under the covers.

"It's not the first time I've been in El's room, or you perhaps jealous and hoping to be in here?" Lucas teased, waggling his eyebrows as Mike blushed, seeming unsure of where to look.

El felt herself blush, the last time he had been near her room was in he had walked in on her changing, since then he had kept himself away. Nothing had changed much in the room though there was a pile of clothes (her own and Max's) on her desk chair that Mike seemed far too interested in at this moment.

"Why would I be jealous? I have nothing to be jealous of." Mike scoffed as he leaned against the doorway. El felt her heart clench as she pouted and looked down at her bed. Of all the way she had imagined Mike leaning against her door like that (yes she had imagined that though she wasn't sure why) he had looked at her with anything but what he was looking at her with right now.

"Good then could you get out of my way Wheeler." The three turned to see Max coming from the bathroom in one of Lucas' old t-shirts and some shorts, her red hair wet and dripping down the back of her top. Mike dropped his head away from El and stepped out of the way.

"Sorry."

"Ah good look my foot warmer is here." Max teased Lucas as she pinched his cheek and got into the bed, spreading her legs until they reached Lucas' body where he rested his hands of them. Max sighed and snuggled into El's side. "Are you joining us Wheeler or just going to stand there acting as a door?"

"Your fine with your boyfriend laying in another girls bed?" Mike asked suddenly. El scoffed and looked up.

Their group had been friends since they were young teenagers where the thoughts of sex and other things had barely even entered their minds. They had shared beds without thinking anything was going to happen and grown used to having relationships with the opposite sex that meant nothing more than a good friendship. Except Mike had always tried to avoid that with El so he wouldn't have ever really seen that.

"Relax Wheeler, it's not the first time they've shared a bed and I can assure you that they won't be fucking." Max snapped out sarcastically as El coughed and Lucas chuckled. Mike blushed again, his mouth open like a fish.

"Why would I need assuring?" Mike's voice was high pitched and his cheeks were redder than Max's hair. El frowned, she wasn't sure if she was imagining the slight harshness that came through his tone but if she wasn't then she didn't fully understand why it was even there if he didn't want anything to do with her. She really needed to stop reading into things.

"You should figure that out yourself, I'm not here to deliver answers especially not when I want to sleep." Max said as she closed her eyes, flinging one hand over her face and letting out a yawn. "Now leave please."

Mike sent one last look to El, brown eyes that were almost black looking at her with annoyance before he turned and left, leaving El wondering what she had even done to annoy him this time. She didn't allow herself to focus on it too much as she laid back and closed her eyes, staring up at the ceiling as she listened to Max and Lucas slowly drift off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm sorry.
> 
> It wasn't the best but I just didn't want you guys to wait for ages.
> 
> So the next chapter should be from Mike's point of view and what he is thinking with the whole thing.
> 
> Anyway please like and comment. Let me know what you are thinking and that you are safe.
> 
> Thank you.


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